The Chest
by 26Chapters
Summary: A collection of Super one-shots, featuring Chi-Chi and Goku.
1. Chapter 1

**First,** Jealous Chi-Chi.

* * *

 _Finally_. Goku breathes in, silently thanking the gods who watch over Earth, that his wife is finally climbing into bed with him. He's been waiting for this moment for the longest time, that Chi-Chi climbing into bed, is easily the highlight of his _entire_ night. And he's fought Jiren tonight. With Frieza by his side. In perfect sync, more than he's ever fought with Vegeta.

All this time that he's been waiting in bed for her, his eyes have been closed, but he specifically made sure to command his mind _not_ to fall asleep until Chi-Chi was lying next to him, and his arms were around her. It looks like now, he's going to have his wish come true, and then he can peacefully fall asleep like he wants to.

'It's okay, Chi-Chi,' he says as he opens his eyes to meet her. 'I'm awake.'

He can't have her softly smooth her side of the bed, in fear that she'll wake him if she makes the wrong move, when he's really awake. He needs her to know that she's not risking to disturb him in anyway.

'You're not asleep?' she wonders, her voice full of surprise.

When he straightens just then, and his eyes fully focus on her, to see surprise softly showing on her face, he immediately thinks that he can't blame her for that response. At the later-than-usual hour that he came home tonight, she probably expected that after taking a quick shower and eating, he'd heavily fall asleep the second that his head rested on his pillow.

Having just come from a Tournament that seemed to go on for days instead of a little under fifty minutes, with seconds to spare, he should've fallen _that_ quickly and _that_ heavily asleep at the slightest chance, but tonight, he can't bring himself to fall asleep without embracing what's precious to him.

'I was waiting for you,' he answers delicately, following his answer with opening his arm out for her.

Chi-Chi, apparently minimally stunned by his answer, pulls her head back, giving off the impression that she's surprised at his patience.

'You waited three hours for me?' she asks, not climbing into his open arm like he wants her to.

Three hours are nothing, he mildly responds in his head. In retrospect, three hours are dust compared to the torturing thought that he had when the Earth had been on the verge of erasure; and that was that he didn't even get to say goodbye to Chi-Chi and Goten before he left for the Tournament. That thought had weighed on him so heavily –even though he didn't show it- that three hours of waiting for her to join him in bed, are nothing at all.

'It's been that long?' he jokes.

'Yes,' she nods, then only climbing into bed, straight into his hold and properly snuggling into him. 'I thought you'd be tired for sure. You were so quiet when you got home, so I thought that you were tired.'

'I _am_ tired,' is his reply to her as his hand grips around her, to keep her pressed against him.

Although, after swallowing a senzu bean, he's not physically tired, he can admit that he's tired in a sense. Mentally, he considers, maybe he's tired mentally, because he _does_ feel some type of tired, all due to coming close to erasure and remembering all that could've been, but thankfully isn't.

'Then sleep,' Chi-Chi softly vibrates, lightly punching his left pectoral.

'I will, now that you're here,' he promises before sliding them down to lay on the bed, only to hear her protest against that.

'I should turn off the light,' she tells him.

He knows that she's silently asking him to let her go, so that she can get up to turn off the light, however, he doesn't budge. He won't deny that his body needs rest, or even that _he_ wants to sleep. Except, now that his wife is here with him, and he's inhaling the soft smell coming from her hair, he's suddenly reminded of all the females from today, that had not been her.

'Not yet,' he hears himself say.

He's not sure why the females from the Tournament are suddenly popping up at a time when he simply wants to bask in and appreciate what he has, but yes, all the females that he fought in the Tournament, are all of a sudden standing out in his mind. It's as though his mind wants to show him _clearly,_ that no matter how much he enjoyed fighting with those females, those fights will _never_ beat this, right here, with Chi-Chi. Not one single fight with those female fighters, brought him the contentedness, that _quiet tranquility_ with his wife brings him.

He could name them one by one, to compare the rushing excitement they brought him, against the peaceful fulfillment from his wife...

There'd been Universe 2's Brianne or Ribrianne, he's not sure which it really is, to be honest. In any case, despite how what's-her-name had tried to entice him with her love powers, she had been a decent opponent, entertaining even. He got a good rush from dodging her attacks, but... If only she'd known that he has no need for something that he already has an abundance of, then maybe she wouldn't have wasted her love powers on him.

Oh well, he mentally shrugs, that doesn't matter now. He bets that she's learned her lesson, if they ever get to meet again.

There'd also been that shy Saiyan from Universe 6, Kale. That Kale person, didn't really have the hang of her power the first time that they fought, but she got significantly better and magnificent when she fused with Caulifla, to make Kefla. Kale reminded him of Brolly in a way in that berserk form of hers, although, he wouldn't mind fighting her again, because she would make for a decent exercise partner in his base form.

Maybe, he can ask Whis to organise with his sister, a fight between him and Kale, like he did the last time with Hit. That would be so much fun, especially considering that she, just like Gohan, has extraordinary potential that she doesn't unleash that easily. Yeah, he'll definitely talk to Whis about Kale sometime soon.

And then, most importantly, there'd been Caulifla…

All too unexpectedly, catching him unprepared, the feelings from when he fought Caulifla, come back to his body, at just the thought of her name. And then, like those feelings burst from the base of his lungs to foam out as froth from his mouth, he finds himself confessing what he hadn't planned on saying. At least, not tonight anyway.

'I met a female Saiyan from Universe 6 today.'

'Female?' Chi-Chi sounds her curiosity.

Something about Chi-Chi's curiosity, makes him delve deeper into the feeling in his body, and give himself over to expressing the feeling verbally.

'She _was_ amazing,' he remembers in admiration, before correcting himself to say, 'She _is_ amazing.'

Chi-Chi is the only person that he has freedom to tell about the deep intricacies that go through his mind and body while he's fighting. Alternatively, Vegeta would be a good person to confide in, but Vegeta usually has no interest in sharing his feelings, which puts Goku off sharing completely. Everyone likes to know that they can share their excitement with someone, and he is _especially_ not an exception.

He's just thinking to lower his cheek on Chi-Chi's head, and close his eyes to savour this moment with her, when Chi-Chi pushes completely out of his hold, and then looks up at him with wide eyes. Instead of wondering why she chose to pull out of snuggling with him, and why her face is set to _that_ expression, all that he registers to see, is the pleasing face of his wife. The face of the woman who he can share his battle excitement with, which is why he gently smiles at her.

'I think that she'd like to see me again,' he continues thoughtfully, 'and I completely understand that about her.'

How can he not understand Caulifla's need to see him again? It's an akin feeling to him, that when he's faced by strong opponents who nearly defeat him or defeat him all in all, he's never satisfied until he sees them again, if only to beat them.

At this point, although he notices that Chi-Chi completely pulls away from being near him, lifting up into a sitting position in bed, he doesn't register why, neither does it cross his mind to question her why she's pulling away from him altogether. Rather, he focuses on getting his feelings out, now that he's started with them.

'I've never met anyone like her, to be honest,' he ponders. 'She was rude at first when I met her, like Vegeta is, I guess…'

These days, he considers Vegeta's attitude normal, and it doesn't bother him anymore that Vegeta is like that. But with Caulifla, it was just a sharp slap in the face, because as a fellow Saiyan, he expected better from her. Maybe he just had too of high expectations when he found out that she was a female Saiyan, rather than expecting her to be like Cabba.

'But as soon as we started fighting,' he remembers, 'I became her only interest. It was like she forgot everything else that was happening around us, to focus on me. It's interesting, because she has that Saiyan arrogance like Vegeta, but otherwise, she's a little like me. She got all excited at seeing my strength, and she kept trying to draw more power out of me, to increase her own power that way. It was really amazing fighting with her.'

As soon as he finishes telling her all that, Chi-Chi lets out a frustrated sounding, 'Hmph!' as she aggressively climbs out of bed. Faster than he can think to stop her, she makes out of their bedroom in a rush, leaving the door open behind her.

Huh? What happened?

Feeling baffled by her unexplained behaviour, Goku blinks, keeping his eyes on the empty space where the door had been.

He doesn't understand… He didn't _exactly_ tell her about the Tournament itself, because it's over and there's no use bringing up what could've been but isn't, so... He figures that there's no use in worrying her with something now past. Just like that time when he had Late-onset Disordered Energy Syndrome. He didn't tell her about that disorder _specifically_ , because he knew that if he did, she would be worried senseless, that every time that he left the house, he would be going to trigger that same disorder, which would eventually lead him to being a vegetable.

With Chi-Chi, omission is better sometimes. The crazy amount of worrying scenarios that play around in her head... It's the reason that he made certain to keep the Tournament Of Power from her.

He doesn't remember mentioning the Tournament specifically, but it appears that Chi-Chi is upset with him for a reason that he cannot grasp.

When he starts to hear strange sounds in the house, he carefully gets up and follows her, to find her in the kitchen. Surprisingly, he finds her cleaning the kitchen surfaces, with the thick smell of lemon detergent welcoming him to the kitchen.

The fact that she is cleaning surfaces that he's sure she leaves clean every night before she comes to bed, leaves him so confused that he can only immediately call her name, as a means of asking for an explanation.

'Chi-Chi?'

To his own ears, his voice sound groggy, and that must be the result of his confusion. He wonders if Chi-Chi heard the grogginess too, but then his thoughts immediately shift when she starts to vigorously rub her orange cloth on the current surface in dangerous circles. If that doesn't give away the fact that she is upset for some reason or another, her silence is the best sign.

Still, being who he is, more so that he doesn't like to be ignored, least of all by his own wife, he moves to her and uses his hands to stop her hands from doing any more cleaning.

'Why are you cleaning?' he wants to know. 'Didn't you already leave everything clean when you came to bed?'

Turning to look at him, her eyes narrow, her forehead creases and her lips set into a tight pout. He would otherwise think of how funny she looks like that, if he couldn't read the disruption in her eyes.

'What's her name?' Chi-Chi asks him.

That's quite… What's the word? Random. Yes, her question is quite random. What does she mean? Is she referring to herself as 'her' now, instead of 'me'? Is she asking him to say her name?

'Chi-Chi?' he nervously provides the answer to her question, as a question, because he still doesn't know what is happening here.

'I'm Chi-Chi,' she thickly replies, jerking a finger at herself. 'What's the other woman's name?'

Other woman? He can't help it pull his face to make an expression that speaks volumes of his confusion and inability to understand what is going on here. Because really, what other woman?

'Who?' he asks, slanting his head a little to the side, to think about where he missed something important.

'Don't be stupid, Goku,' Chi-Chi fumes out as silently as she can –for sleeping Goten's sake, no doubt. 'She's amazing, Chi-Chi,' she mimics his voice, and then returns her voice to normal to complete with, 'Miss Amazing, that's who! What's her name?'

What, Caulifla?

'You mean Caulifla?' he asks to be sure that they are on the same page.

Chi-Chi bitterly said 'woman' in a way that lead him to think of a very different image. The way that she said it, he thought of an old person, sitting outside of her house, sipping some sweet drink, while she waited for someone to come to her. But apparently, the woman that chi-Chi is referring to, is Caulifla. He never imagined Caulifla as a _woman_.

'Caulifla?' she tests.

He can only nod for an answer, because the thought of Caulifla being referred to as a woman, doesn't sit all that well with him. Although, to be fair, he has his _own_ definition of a woman, and that definition is only defined by his wife alone; Chi-Chi takes up that whole definition by herself.

Of course, he knows that people like Bulma and other older females are women, but he only thinks of them by their names, not as women necessarily. It's not entirely a common way to live, but it works for him, and he's content with it. Caulifla on the other hand, looks even younger than Videl, and dresses like she doesn't have a proper shirt, so he couldn't even begin to think of her as a woman.

It's not that he cares what Caulifla wears, because it has nothing to do with him. However, he's thinking of Caulifla's attire because in comparison, if for some reason Chi-Chi were to wear something like that outside of their home, he'd probably go Ultra Instinct to pummel whoever _dared_ to see her that way.

'Like cauliflower?' Chi-Chi asks, and just then lets out a short exclamation. 'Ugh! No wonder you're gushing for her! You couldn't be bothered to eat broccoli, but you swallow all of your cauliflower whole!'

Pulling another face, Goku starts to wonder if he, in all of his thinking just now, failed to hear something that she said; something that connects how they jumped from calling Caulifla a woman, to talking about cauliflowers that he hardly chews when it's time to eat.

Just what in the universe?

'Huh? What does cauliflower have to do with Caulifla? I don't understand,' he asks, scratching the back of his head, to demonstrate how unable to catch on he is.

Honestly, apart from sounding similar, what does his love for cauliflower have to do with him fighting Caulifla? But evidently, his confusion, upsets Chi-Chi all the more, because after she, 'Hmphs!' she pulls her hands away from his hold and goes right back to cleaning the surfaces again.

'Chi-Chi…' he tries.

He so hates it when she gets like this. He dislikes the times when she refuses to tell him what's wrong, because she wants him to figure out for himself. He'd much rather that she tells him, and then he can make amends for whatever he did. This trying to figure her anger out thing, never goes well for him.

'What, Goku?' she spins back to him sharply. 'You've never called _me_ amazing! I'm not as strong as that Saiyan _woman_. I'm _not_ like you. I don't get excited at seeing strong people, and I don't push you to use more strength. And so now that we've established that, I just want to clean, so please go to bed. And probably dream of eating cauliflowers,' she mumbles darkly as an afterthought before returning to her cleaning.

'But…'

'But nothing,' she snaps, not bothering to face him. 'I'm your wife, but clearly, there's someone out there better for you, that you can't stop complimenting her.'

The strange thing is, even though he's hearing the words that she's saying, he still doesn't understand what all this is about. Well, yes, he heard her list all the things that she's not, but this last thing about Caulifla being better for him, because he couldn't stop calling her amazing, is the most trash he's heard in a while.

'Caulifla's not better for me,' he disagrees with her. 'I mean, I like that she appreciates opponents like I do, but no,' he shakes his head thoughtfully, 'she's not better for me. She's not really nice, and she has this crazy idea that she can surpass me…'

Reflexively, he scoffs at the thought, as if that will ever happen. Had she been his daughter, a sister to Gohan and Goten, he wouldn't have a problem with her aiming to surpass him, but she's not his family, so no, he won't accept to be lesser than her.

'That's irritating,' he admits out loud for the first time ever, 'and I really don't like that about her. It felt really good to show off in front of her and show her that she wouldn't easily catch up to me. Every time that I transformed into something different, it felt good to rub it in her face that she wasn't at the level where I was yet.'

Funny enough, even observing all that about her while they were fighting, he felt very specific feelings of challenge and a thirst to excel above his ordinary techniques. Still, he can't forget how irked his observations had made his soul feel, which was a colossal difference from the feelings his body was accepting. He remembers all too clearly how he enjoyed telling her that she c _ould_ try to keep up with him, but she wouldn't be able to.

'I usually like to show off my power little by little against someone, but with Caulifla, I loved bragging, all because she's irritating. I don't think that I really want to see her again,' he considers honestly, 'so I guess Vegeta is still a better partner for me than her.'

Perhaps, it's because she is _so_ like him in that regard, but it's annoying to be around her. He can't remember recently feeling as good, as when he fired that last Kamehameha right in Kefla's face. If he had another chance, he would probably do it again, and enjoy it too.

It's not that he doesn't like her, or that he doesn't believe in the potential she has to change her attitude in the same way that Vegeta did, though. It's only that well, he now sort of understands why he gets on people's nerves sometimes. He got a small dose of himself through fighting Caulifla, later Kefla.

'You say that, and yet you call her amazing,' Chi-Chi reminds him hotly, this time facing him.

'She is amazing,' he agrees, not backing away from his assessment of Caulifla. 'She's persistent and determined.'

When Chi-Chi frowns, because he doesn't understand her hostility, he tries to get to the bottom of her attitude.

'Chi-Chi, did I do something wrong?' he carefully asks.

'Of course, you didn't,' she replies coldly. 'Every middle-aged housewife loves to hear her young-looking and handsome husband spew praises about another woman, a woman more compatible than her!'

After her cold reply, she suddenly bursts out crying, and for confusion, the first few seconds leave him only able to stare at her.

'You see!' she accuses through her tears. 'You're not even denying it!'

Denying what? She's not making any sense tonight. First, she wouldn't keep in his hold in bed. And then she left him in bed without an explanation, to come cleaning surfaces that don't need cleaning. From there, she randomly started about women and cauliflowers, and now she's crying? Is he dreaming, maybe and the sequence and details are all wrong?

No matter, though, he tells himself, dream or no dream, he can't stand to see Chi-Chi cry. Because of that, he puts his hands on her shoulders to calmly ask her, 'Please stop crying, Chi-Chi.'

'Why?' she wails dramatically. 'Why should I stop? Why can't I cry, when I know that you have interest elsewhere?'

'Please stop crying,' he provides just as calmly as before, 'because I want you to. I really don't know if you're upset about something else that I don't know, but I do know that I waited three hours to fall asleep with you. I just want to hold you and fall asleep knowing that you are beside me. If I did something to upset you, please forgive me.'

Maybe all this is a dream, which would perfectly explain how his mind is stubborn to grasp what is happening here, but the least he can do, is comfort her.

Using that thought as motivation, he uses one of his hands to cup her chin, and make her look at him in the eyes. When she does and their eyes meet, he breathes out a sad sigh. He should really pay more attention, so that he doesn't make her cry in the future. Her eyes always look so beaten when she cries, that it makes him want to do everything possible to make her eyes fill up with excitement or pleasure again.

'I'm sorry for whatever I did,' he gently tells her, audibly pleading, 'but for now, I just want to sleep with you next to me. It's been such a long night and I just want you with me. That's all I want, Chi-Chi. Can you give me that?'

From that, he doesn't say more to her, rather, he allows the silence to set the mood, for his eyes to tell her everything. He wants her to see how much he needs her to fall asleep beside him tonight. He wants her to see that he is genuinely sorry for upsetting her, even though he can't figure out what he did wrong. And most of all, he just wants her to see that without her, he probably would've been affected by what's-her- name's love attack.

'Oh… Goku,' she starts to stammer, her cries changing to something soft and moved.

He smiles from the depths of his heart at that, because she caressed his name out of her mouth lovingly. He should be smiling for the fact that she is apparently pacified by his look, more than his words, but it's the way that she says his name, that has him feeling like smiling until the end of the world. He absolutely loves it when she says his name like that. It always makes him feel like a very specifically cherished hero.

As if her saying his name like that isn't enough, he then stands on her toes to touch her forehead on his. He would've thought that she would wrap her arms around his neck, but she doesn't, however, he is still just satisfied by the small bit of affectionate contact from her.

'I love it when you look at me like that,' she whispers silkily. 'I always feel so loved.'

That's good to know, because sometimes those love words just don't come out of his mouth, but in the silence of just the two of them, his eyes know how to speak them clearly and loudly.

'Let's go to bed, Chi-Chi,' he says, before he melts into the overwhelming feelings for his wife.

He would gladly melt into his feelings for Chi-Chi, but sometimes, like tonight, just holding her is enough for him. Perhaps tomorrow morning they could find a little time, just not tonight. It's the reason why he doesn't wait for her to respond, he rather just picks her up like the bride of his that she is, and carries her to bed.

Only once they've turned off the light, once they've softly kissed each other goodnight, once they've comfortably settled into each other's warmth, and once he's concluded in his head that no amazing fight with Caulifla, or Kefla could top this with Chi-Chi, does it occur to him that...

As suddenly a blink comes and goes, his eyes shoot open with a disturbing realisation. Maybe, he thinks, just maybe, Chi-Chi's behaviour can be explained by the fact that she'd been comparing herself to Caulifla, the other woman as she called her. Goku, feeling as much as disturbed as confused, wonders, what in the universe is Chi-Chi _, his Chi-Chi_ to be precise, doing comparing herself to Caulifla?

* * *

 **Second,** Surprised Chi-Chi.


	2. Chapter 2

**Second,** Surprised Chi-Chi.

* * *

He _really_ doesn't know _why_ it happens.

There's nothing particularly different than usual that happens to cause it, so he can't understand _why_ it happens all of a sudden. The _how_ it happens, he knows without trying, because he's instantly made aware of it, but the _why_ , he can't understand. From what he knows, there _has_ to be a deep push, a sort of forcefully resistant urge to an external and undesirable factor, to bring it out of him.

That's not what happens here, though.

Nothing out of the ordinary happens, to drive him to this. At least, as far as he knows, nothing demanding _this_ kind of attention happens _at all_. All he really knows, is that one minute he is in their living room, taking advantage of the silence to meditate with battle images, while he does his usual press-ups, and the next, he instantly feels the transition taking over.

Smoothly, he feels his thoughts shift from visualisation, to reflexive responses. Due to that, he finds himself slowly lifting his body up to stand on his feet, without telling himself to do so. With his eyes closed, and firmly on his feet, he feels absolute calmness surround his reflexive thoughts. To him, it's the same as being in control of himself, and yet, having no control over that control.

 _This_ , is trusting his instincts.

Fully accepting the calmness, so that no panic sets off in his body, to cause an imbalance within, to the point of early exhaustion, is trusting his instincts to have complete control. Allowing that same calmness to spread with ease, to the rest of his body, is trusting his instincts to have complete control.

The calmness fills his muscles; battle vitalities that need the insurance of calmness to function without fear. It fills his arms and hands; other battle vitalities that depend on calmness to keep them from being hasty. It fills his legs and feet; important battle vitalities that simultaneously need calmness to be steady anchors and whole movement propellers. And it fills his chest; a seemingly small battle vitality that needs to trust in the sensation of calmness to be an effective shield.

 _This_ , is obeying his instincts.

It doesn't matter to him, that he doesn't know why he's changing into this mode, it matters more, that he allows his instincts complete control. Without a doubt, they are bringing this side out of him, for a reason, and so, it doesn't matter to him if he understands why this is happening or not. His only focus, is obeying his instincts; automatically responding to them and going where they naturally lead him to.

As a sign that he's surrendering himself and his plans, over to his instincts, he pulls in a controlled breath, and then gets ready to do whatever his instincts move him to , when-

'Goku?'

The mangled raspy sound of his name that suddenly fills the air, and intrudes over the calmness that he'd just given himself over to, instantly shatters his eyes to open. He can't say that the abrupt interruption overrode his instinctive calmness in any way, but instantly, he freezes.

 _This_ , is his wife.

When she sounds like _that_ , a syllable away from being distressed, and a move away from screaming at the top of her lungs, his body always takes on instincts of their own, that he can never control. When she stares at him like _that_ , with eyes wide open, and mouth just as widely open, letting out a silent scream, his body always keeps him rooted in place, without the option of fleeing.

 _This_ , is like a _good_ blow that he didn't expect.

'What…?' she starts but doesn't finish, her index finger frailly pointing at him.

She should be used to his transformations by now. After all of his transformations, from Super Saiyan, to Super Saiyan 2, and then 3, to the Super Saiyan God, and then Super Saiyan Blue, she should be used to his transformations by now. It doesn't look like she is, though, and the result from his end, is effortless.

 _This_ , is the effect of a good blow.

His heart is now beating hard. His palms are suddenly sweaty. The little sub-nerves that make up the actual nerves in his nerves, suddenly feel rattled at their bases. His brain automatically sends flight instincts to his body, making his lungs feel too heavy to breathe properly. His whole body feels tingly with rattled nerves. His eyes water, and his mouth shakily opens to speak.

'Chi-Chi, this isn't what it looks like.'

'You…' she weakly starts again, but she doesn't finish.

It must be his greyish-white hair. The matching eyebrows too. The idea that her husband suddenly, for no reason looks like he does, must be shaking her up inside right now. He can almost hear her thoughts pouring out of her mind, and-

 _This_ , is what he lives for.

Anticipation. Not knowing what comes next. Not knowing how it will make him feel and react. Not knowing how it will end. When it will end. Who will turn out victorious.

'I'm not really old, Chi-Chi,' he hastily tries to counter her thoughts with an explanation. 'This is a form called Ultra Instinct.'

 _This_ , is exciting.

Waiting for her response. Will she scream? Will she faint? Will she sigh? Will she be impressed? Will she turn her back?

'Ultra…?' she croaks.

 _This_ , is like fighting without fighting. And he loves it.

 _This_ , is what his instincts meant for him to experience. And he's thankful to them for.

 _This_ , is everything. And he wouldn't change a thing.

* * *

 **Third,** Furious Chi-Chi.


	3. Chapter 3

**Third,** Furious Chi-Chi.

* * *

Long after dinner is finished, a few moments after she's cleared the kitchen and living room of all traces of dirt, she finds Goku standing outside their home, looking up at the sky, with his hands clasped together at the back of his head. If it were anyone else looking at him from the front door, they would think that he is simply looking up at the sky, getting some fresh air while he enjoys the view, just before he has to go inside for sleep. As his wife, she knows better, though. She knows what he's really doing.

More or less, in no precise terms, she has an idea of what is going on through his mind at the moment, because he rarely goes outside after dinner like this. Considering that last fact, it wouldn't be too much of a reach, to assume that he is going over the day's events, and filing them away as he should. Ordinarily, she would let him have his peace, except tonight, she has something else in mind for coming out here, and she will not let this night pass without letting him know what's on her mind.

'I'm furious with you,' she tightly announces to him from the door.

As she meant, the words don't come out as one of her signature angry verbal attacks. There's a time for her to use those, and that time hasn't yet come. For now, as she knew it would be, the tight precision that she uses to let him know how she feels, is enough to make him sharply turn around and face her. She's glad that he obviously knows better than to lag in giving her his full attention. It's only that he meets her stare with a genuinely confused expression.

'With who? With me?' he points a finger at himself.

The way he points at himself, she thinks, it's as if to say that he doesn't quite believe that she would be saying something like that to him. It's like in his mind, he probably went through the previous events of the day, to find a memory where she was cold towards him, that would explain her random announcement.

'Yes, you!' she snaps, folding her arms and then leans against on the doorframe to emphasise her point.

Her confirmation apparently shocks him, because he slightly jumps back from his place, only then to curiously ask, 'But what did I do?'

 _So cute_ , she notes involuntarily. When he makes that confused, yet shocked face, when he reacts like raw innocence at the time of conception, he's _always_ so cute, which is never fair to her. That cuteness of his, always puts her at a slight disadvantage, and the worst part about that, is that it's never intentional on his part to put her at a disadvantage. But still, no matter his current cuteness, she's still furious with him, and she'd like for him to know just how much.

'You're irresponsible,' she rasps, 'that's what you did!'

Saying the words, makes her skin feel uncomfortably hot, which in turn makes her heart beat faster with fury. It's that she especially hates that he _chose_ to be irresponsible, even after seeing the way that she reacted when she thought Frost had killed him during their fight. That irresponsibility alone, makes her feel like the sacred kettle of tea that she boils every morning for them. He can't begin to imagine just how that thought makes her feel like slimy snakes are crawling under her skin, only to cause infuriating irritation to her.

'How?' Goku sticks out his head towards her to ask, after blinking once.

Of course, he doesn't even _remember_ his own irresponsibility. To him, it probably isn't classified as irresponsibility, but rather, pushing himself harder, unlike how she saw it. If she wasn't as fuming as she is, she would've began diverting into a lecture about knowing what is generally considered irresponsibility, as opposed to his version of views and interpretations. For now, however, she's more pressed by her fury, to just get it out and let him know what she's fuming about.

' _Super Saiyan Blue_ ,' she starts lowly, because that transformation hadn't been the problem to begin with.

' _Kaoi-Ken_ ,' she adds to the first point in more of a grumble, because that _is_ where his irresponsibility began.

' _Times ten_ ,' sourly leaves her mouth after the last words, just a letter short of being a shriek, because _really_!

 _Times ten_! The mere memory makes her want to scream, and simultaneously rip the stars from the black sky, so that no shred of happiness in the form of light, can stand up against the anger that she feels right now. She wants all of the dark night surrounding her dearest, irresponsible husband, to suffer the wrath of her anger, so that it snugly envelopes him, to make him understand just _how_ furious she is with him.

'Oh,' he smiles sheepishly, evidently catching on. 'It's about _that_.'

 _Oh_? And a sheepish smile? Of all the things...

'Oh?' she angrily croaks, her throat feeling dry all of a sudden. 'Is that _all_ you have to say?'

As is typical of him, he gives off a small unbothered shrug to ask, 'What do you want me to say?'

She wonders if her face is flooded with angry colour at the moment, because she feels too hot to bear. Her ears especially, feel like they are auditioning to be rays of the sun, while her cheeks feel like two flames of fire reaching to be part of an inferno. He doesn't get it at all, and that makes her all the more furious with him. For him to _not_ grasp the intensity of her confession and weight of his irresponsibility, is the same as being beaten for doing nothing wrong; infuriating, yet intangibly painful to experience.

'I don't want you to say anything!' she explodes from the root of her fury, ripping her arms from their fold. 'I want you to _acknowledge_ that you were irresponsible!'

Him smiling and saying nonchalant 'Ohs,' and then shrugging like nothing _is_ wrong, like he did nothing wrong, is _not_ him giving importance to the fact that she has _every_ right to be furious with him. In fact, it only makes him look like he couldn't be bothered by her feelings at all, and would rather make light of the situation. Maybe to him, her fury and just how deep it runs, isn't visible, but she _feels_ it within her. Not even a raging sea and a violent hurricane can compare to the fumes that she feels dancing around inside of her. She feels like her fury is a stubborn wound that's just spreading to be bigger and bigger, with no plan of ever stopping. It makes her want to scream endlessly.

'You said it yourself, _Goku_ ,' she coldly starts to remind him, 'the beginning of the worst, would've been destroying your body! Do you want to guess what the end of the worst would've been?'

'I would've died, I guess,' he answers in a tone that says he's starting to lament where this is going.

He... He... He _guesses_? The nerve of him! Really, he guesses? And in that tone too? What, the idea of death didn't even tickle him to some type of feeling?

'Clearly,' she exclaims, tightly clenching her jaw, 'you've died too many times to be affected by your own death, but I'll tell you what the worst would've been. Gohan and Goten, would've lost a father. A _gain_. And I would've lost a husband. _Again_. For goodness sake, Goku, I'm tired of bearing the pain and emptiness left behind by your death.'

'Chi-Chi,' he calls her name in a small desperate cry, 'why are you being like this? I didn't even die. Nothing happened to me.'

But of course, he _didn't and doesn't_ understand her point! It obviously flew over his head, because her fury isn't being registered by his mind as valid or warranted, and because of that, she aggressively clicks her tongue, turns her back on him and closes the door behind her, to shut her away from him. She has no time for this! She has no time for him. Obviously, death is nothing less than another opportunity to train for him, so of course, he wouldn't be bothered by it. By his logic and standards, of course, death is just another adventure for him, where he gets to have the time of his life, and forget all about the people that he left behind on Earth.

After closing the door, she shakes her head and presses her lips together, thinking how unimpressed she is with him. Oh, how she wishes that she could keep him locked outside, until he understands _why_ she's so angry with him. It's not even just that she's angry with him, it's that underneath all that anger, is unbearable fear, a reminder if of sorts, that she could lose him at any single time, and the consequences of that are just...

'That Goku,' she fumes to herself, and just then the door opens.

As she hears the door open, signalling him coming in after her, instead of moving from where she is to get away from him, she stays rooted on the spot, hoping that he will simply walk past her and go to bed before her. Right now, she feels that if he can't understand her, she doesn't want to be near him, or even look at him. Her hope, though, is destroyed by reality, when she feels him come to stand behind her.

'Come on, Chi-Chi,' he tries to coax from behind her, 'please don't be like that. I'm all right, okay?'

Like she did in the doorway, she clicks her tongue again, to stubbornly remain in her stance. Really, doesn't he even care that he would've wrecked his precious body? Doesn't it bother him that he'd put himself in a compromising position? Doesn't it matter to him that he doesn't have a spotless record of being okay all the time? Because, it bothers her _so_ very much!

Mentally, she'll have him know that had anything happened to his body, it would've been exactly like those days after the first fight he ever had with Vegeta. That had been one of the most difficult times for her in her life. It had broken her, to see her strong husband broken like that, that she froze inside, and didn't know how to react, but ignore him. By all the gods that exist, she wanted to say words of comfort to him, she wanted to surround his broken body with hers and caress it with assurances, but she knew that it wouldn't help him.

It hadn't been that she was deliberately ignoring him, no. It was that she was angry at so many things, at herself for letting him go, at him, for not knowing when to stop, at someone, for involving her little baby into horrid fights, that she just didn't know how to immediately smother that anger. And even after the anger, she felt useless, completely useless, for the reason that there was nothing that she could do for him, but just _physically be there_. As his wife, she knew just how precious his body was to him, and to see him reduced to a place where he didn't have control of what his body did, broke her, because she knew that inside, it was breaking him relentlessly.

'Hmph,' she sounds out.

Still, he's not getting her point, and for that, she won't budge to him either. It's shaping out to be a she says, he says issue, and added onto her fury, she doesn't need to lose her patience as well.

He feels him walk around her and come to stand in front of her, but before they can make eye contact, to effectively block him out, she sulkily closes her eyes. Honestly, if he won't understand her, she won't give him attention either, and she'll be childishly stubborn about it too.

'It's no use being angry now, Chi-Chi,' he tries, to soften her up. 'I'm fine, I promise.'

Although her eyes are closed, she can tell that he's this close to touching her face for her visual attention. Because of that, she turns her face the other way, to prevent it from happening, but that's precisely when she feels him gently touch her face. It's exactly the action that she wanted to prevent, because she knew that it would provoke a response from her.

'That's not the issue here, Goku,' she stresses, still keeping her eyes closed.

She wants him to get _why_ she's angry with him. She needs for him to understand, that it's not that it was an accident or carelessness on his part, it's that he could've done damage to himself, that left her the consequences to deal with.

'But I _am_ okay, isn't that what matters?' he stresses back.

Something about how he asks that, makes her eyes open without proper permission, bringing her to look at him without planning to. Her eyes meet a somewhat sullen expression. It looks to her, like he suddenly feels like he's done her a great disservice. With the expression on his face, it's as though he is telling her that it seems like she can't trust him to be responsible with his own life; that she only trusts in the fact that he'll get himself killed.

Oh, wow, she digests his expression, now she feels bad a little.

That expression of his, is making her look like something that she's not, and it's also beginning to compete with her anger for him. It's clearly unfair to her, to start feeling like the bad distrustful guy in this, when he can easily avoid that by just accepting her feelings and getting her point. Whether he's avoiding to acknowledge it, or he seriously doesn't get her point, she simply wants him to understand her, not make her feel like she's distrustful of him.

'Yes, it matters that you're okay, but...' she finds herself saying, mostly to appease that look on his face.

During her pause, while she's trying to decide if she should give up on being angry, he carefully takes both her hands and places them on the sides of his neck.

'See?' he keeps hold over her hands, his voice soothing as he does, 'I'm fine.'

Still, even if his neck doesn't feel stiff like she knows he means to show her, she doesn't want to stop being furious with him, so she pouts at him. She has every right to be angry, and she wants to keep feeling entitled to it, especially since he won't make an effort to even discuss this with her.

'I can see that,' begrudgingly leaves her mouth, knowing how encouraging those few words will be to him.

'Check my temperature too,' he says, lifting her right hand over to his forehead.

See, she knew the moment that she looked at him, she would start losing this fight with him. Just like she knew agreeing with him on how she can see how fine she is, would urge him to keep pressing that way. Now, here she is, struggling so very much, to keep a faint smile off her face, while he places her other hand, her fingers to be precise, through his hair.

'Feel my hair,' he tells her, 'because it wouldn't be this soft if I wasn't okay...'

It's official, she thinks as her faint smile starts to expand, she's going to lose this fight to him. When she's already starting to smile at his antics when she clearly doesn't want to be entertaining his act of brushing her point off, there's not much hope left for her.

'Idiot,' she mumbles in part frustration and part surrender.

She might as well hang her anger up to dry, and fold it neatly for storage, because at her comment, he shows her a genuine smile, one that is designed only to assure her that he's okay. Really. Almost immediately following his smile, he lowers both of her hands to the middle of his chest, and rests them over his heart, with his eyes intently staring into hers.

'And feel my heart...' he breathes intimately.

How can she not? Her hands are literally over his heart, and the tiny vibrations of his steady heartbeat, are beating against her palms. How can she not feel his heart? She looks down at her hands, lets out a long breath as a fond smile forms on her lips.

'It's beating the same as it always has been,' he tells her.

Except for that one time, she automatically reminds herself. There was that one time that he was going through a sickness, a heart sickness, and his heart wasn't beating the way it was supposed to. His hair had been hard and brittle, easily prone to breaking too, and she'd been immeasurably scared for his life. It's not fair that he should subtly remind her of that time, as a way to get her to let go of her anger. It just isn't fair.

'So, I'm fine, Chi-Chi,' he repeats, at the same time taking her hands and wrapping her arms around his neck, to bring their foreheads together.

At first contact, her eyes close in tune with his, to digest this little moment. She even groans a little, to admit that he's got her, hut she hopes for him to interpret it as her refusing to let her fury go. In her heart she does want to be angry with him, because he still doesn't understand her, but he's got her too well, for her to find a way out of his grip.

'Look,' he whispers, 'I can even turn Super Saiyan Blue.'

She mentally scoffs at the mention of Super Saiyan Blue, the very form that began the trail of anger for her, which she now doesn't have enough grip to hang onto anymore.

'Without screaming?' she cynically asks.

If she can't be allowed to have her fury, can she at least be bitter and cynical?

'You know the screaming is just for show, Chi-Chi,' he bubbles richly. 'Just open your eyes and look.'

She doesn't need to open her eyes, because the heat from his transformation is already starting to penetrate through her clothes. It's ridiculously stuffy for her, but she doesn't back away from it. What she does do, is lift her forehead from his and then opens his eyes to look at him. She finds his open blue eyes waiting for hers.

'See?' he softly poses, 'If I had damaged my body, I wouldn't be able to do this with ease. Trust me, Chi-Chi, I'm super fine. You don't need to worry, or be angry.'

'That's not the point, Goku!' she reminds him in a cry. 'I _can see_ that you're fine. I know you're fine, but I just wanted to have my furious moment with you. You could've destroyed your body, and even worse, you could've died. And all for what, so you could have a longer, more challenging fight with that Hit guy? It's not fair, Goku. Why can't I just have this once to be angry? You take things too lightly sometimes, and that's painful.'

It isn't about that he survived without a scratch, it's that he made a reckless decision that could've left several people hurt. All right, yes, nothing happened to him, but his irresponsible decision, which he made very consciously, is what had her so fired up. She only wishes that he would understand that, at least.

Immediately following her words, Goku's expression turns serious, making all the lightness from before disappear.

'Believe me,' he starts in a firm voice, 'I would be affected the most if _anything_ happened to my body, you know that. I _know_ what I did, and I know the consequences it could've brought, but there's no point in dwelling on what could've happened when it didn't happen. Nothing happened in the end, so what's the point of holding onto what didn't?'

'I'm not holding onto it, I just...' she tries. 'Goku, you saw how I was when Frost knocked you out, why can't you understand how I really feel?'

'I _do_ understand how you feel,' he tells her after a sigh, 'and that's why I'm stressing it so much that I'm fine. Look, Chi-Chi, my worries aren't more important than yours, but they _are_ different. Sometimes, my worries can't be assured away with words, and there's nothing more terrible than knowing that your worries are actually happening. I don't want that for you. I understand that so much could've happened to me, _but it didn't_.'

To finish, as though specifically to finalise his stance on the matter to her, he unwraps her arms from around his neck, and then steps away from her, taking his stuffy heat with him. It's strange how she feels uncomfortable without that uncomfortable heat penetrating through her clothes. It's stranger still, how despite maintaining her right to anger with him, she doesn't find the point in pushing down that path.

'Fine,' she accepts to let this go tonight, 'but I promise you, Goku, if I so much as catch you yawning out of place, or wincing at the smallest of pains, you won't be leaving this house. That's a warning!'

'I won't even get a headache,' he nods his head vigorously. 'You'll see, I'll be fine.'

He better not, because she doesn't appreciate the business of worrying. It makes her life so much harder than it has to be.

'Just remember that if you do something that reckless again, I'll kill you myself,' she threatens him with a stern finger.

'I won't,' he quickly answers, his lips spreading to form a smile.

He says that, and yet, she finds it extremely hard to believe that he won't aim to push himself further, at whatever time he feels the need to. The only difference will probably be, that she won't be there to witness it. Knowing him, and taking his current explanation into consideration, it's a fact that there's no way that he's going to tell her what he does in her absence.

* * *

 **Fourth,** Touched Chi-Chi.


	4. Chapter 4

**Fourth,** Touched Chi-Chi.

* * *

Aaah! Now this, she loves.

Being back in her own home. Being able to walk into whatever room she wants. Being able to inhale that fragrant smell of her special detergents. Being able to just _be_ in her own home, specifically, above all else.

This _is_ what she loves.

The tips of the fingers of her right hand, flowingly play against the wall, as her feet carry her up and down the corridor. Her eyes see the repairs done, and her mind takes in how precise they are to how their home had been before the accident, but it's her heart that appreciates and feels for everything. Her heart feels for the hard wall on her fingertips. It feels for the impeccable repairs. And it feels for being back home, at last.

Aaah! This, she truly loves.

She's finally back home, and it's precisely as it had been before. And yes, if anyone asks, this, she cherishes more than a meat and vegetable sale at the market – even considering how rare those sales are. And yes, she could repeat this cycle every day, if it meant feeling like this as a consequence. No, she wouldn't necessarily like to have her home destroyed like it had been, but this feeling of being back home, she could repeat once or twice, at most.

Her home…

Her beloved home…

Without a doubt, she really appreciated staying at Gohan's home, and she loved the unlimited time that she got to have with Pan while over at Gohan's, but in the end, Gohan's home is not her own, and she could never really feel complete living there. The unwritten restrictions alone, set that 'incomplete living' feeling in for her. Not only that, but that house of Gohan's is unbelievably humongous; what would she do with all that space, when Goku and Goten weren't there? And how would she clean it all in time to get her day going? No, she could never feel complete living there. And not just her, Goku and Goten wouldn't either.

Goku and Goten...

Bless them, she smiles at the thought, they never once _did_ voice how restricted they felt at Gohan's home, but she _knew_ from their restrained actions, that they felt less at home than they let on. At least now that they are home, for tonight, it matters to her that they each appreciate being back home in their own ways. She, in her own way of appreciating all the humdrum details of the replica repairs done, and Goten and Goku… Well…

Just for tonight, she's not interested enough to pay attention to what they are doing in the living room. Although her keen ears can hear them making chatter as she goes up and down the corridor, she's not particularly interested to really know what it is, that they are doing. Her current and most important interest, is admiring the repairs done on and inside their home, and so, she'll let her boys be whatever they wish tonight. She really couldn't be bothered by the two of them doing what it is they are doing, because in all honesty, she's just happy to be back home and be able to sleep in her own bed again.

In her state of appreciating everything right about being back home, she returns past the living room, to the kitchen, to tidy up a little bit before it's time for bed. The living room, she'll do later, because Goku and Goten in the living room after dinner, unsupervised, to be specific, always means picking up cushions here and there... Yes, she'll do that later, because she thinks that they deserve to make all the mess that they want, to make up for all the unspoken rules that they had to follow back at Gohan's home. In truth, even _she_ is looking forward to tidying up after that, if only to prolong the time before she has to sleep, and instead admire her house a little more.

'Goten,' she hears Goku's voice say as she steps into her kitchen, 'do you want to sit on me while I do my sit-ups?'

'I wanna sleep,' Goten groans tiredly.

He must be ready to sleep, if he's refusing time with his father like that, she thinks while going around the kitchen with her back to them. Goten would never pass up the chance to be involved in whatever training or exercises his father is up to, so he must be ready for sleep more than anything at the moment.

'Aww, Goten, do you really, really want to sleep?'

'Uh-huh,' Goten answers through what sounds like a yawn. 'Dad, can I sleep with you and Mom like I did at Gohan's house?'

No, is the immediate answer in her head.

Goten's not asking her, he's not talking to her in fact, but in the end, she is the one who will make the decision of whether or not he will sleep in their room, so _no_. It may just be the first night after their sleeping arrangements at Gohan's, but Goten has to settle in sleeping alone again. At Gohan's, she allowed him to sleep with them, because with all the empty rooms in the house, she feared that she would _feel_ far away from him. Here back home, the first night back specifically, no, absolutely not. Tonight, she wants privacy with Goku, she wants to sleep close to her husband, and have all types of intimate moments with him.

'You can sleep with us, if you sit on me while I do my sit-ups,' Goku says to their son.

Shaking her head a little bit at his leniency, she thinks that that sounds like a bargain presented to Goten. Well too bad for either of them, (if Goku believes in his bargain, and if Goten will cling onto it) because she will not have any of that. True, she loves her family, she loves her boys, but this first night, she loves the idea of completion (that 'back where I belong' feeling) more.

'But I wanna sleep _now_ ,' Goten returns.

That's him feeling forced to whine, so that his father can get the point, she notes. She doesn't doubt that Goku knows this about Goten, but she also doubts that he will accept. If he's bargaining for Goten to train with him, then he's not going to easily let it go.

'But _I_ want you to sit on me while I exercise,' Goku says in his own version of a whine. 'It'll only be for a second.'

For a brief second, she's tempted to go over to them and put a stop to their back and forth herself, however, she remembers her promise to allow them their freedom just for tonight. And even if it wasn't for her promise, in her heart, she knows that she'd still let them be; big Goku and little Goku being well… Typical Goku.

'But Daaad….'

'Come on, Goten, it'll be fun. You _always_ like to sit on me. _You_ said it's fun.'

That's not fair, she thinks, having a little thought to turn her back on her cleaning and look at the pair interacting. Goku is doing the same thing to Goten, that he does to her sometimes. When he seems to think that his bargaining won't work, he brings up a way to persuade her in the form of defaming accusation.

'It's fun,' Goten answers too eagerly as if to proudly stick by his word, 'but I _wanna_ sleep.'

All right, she decides, that's it. Goten wants to sleep and that is that. She won't cut into their conversation just yet, but she will go to prepare his bedroom, and then only return to tell him to go to bed, in his own bed.

'Goten please,' Goku starts. 'We didn't do this at Gohan's remember?'

Before hearing what Goten has to give as a reply, she walks past them to his bedroom, to prepare it. It's a little sad for him that she's denying that chance of sleeping with him, but it simply can't happen. Another night, yes, he could sleep with them. Tonight, no, he will not sleep with them.

Inside Goten's room, she switches off the main light, so that the lamp at his little table, shines light that can be seen. She also pulls the curtains apart just enough to let in a little moonlight, if the moon decides that it wants to make an appearance somewhere during the night. After all that, she pulls down the covers, readying the bed for him, before leaving his room, to prepare her own her room for when sleep eventually catches her.

When she comes back to the living room, she finds Goku doing his sit-ups. Finally, she starts to faintly smile to herself, he's finally accepted that Goten wants to sleep and decided to do his sit-ups without him, only to think... But Goten's not across him like he'd been earlier.

Oh! She stops in her steps. There's Goten.

She didn't notice immediately, but now, she sees that Goku's legs are flat on the floor as he lifts his upper body up, to perform his sit-ups, and Goten... Goten is on his stomach, lying flat there. She's done her share fair of training in her life, to know that sit-ups, are harder to do when one's legs are either flat on the ground, or held up in the air. Bent knees with feet soles flat on the ground, is the best position for moderate sit-ups, which is not what he's doing right now.

He's putting more effort into his training tonight, she realises, and she can only trace that back to the fact that he wants to make this winding down exercise count. This is, after all the first time at night, that he's doing his winding down exercises, since they stayed over at Gohan's. But what she's immediately intrigued by, is why, considering that he's going the harder route tonight, he's choosing to do his sit-ups with Goten flat on his stomach, making it so that he has added weight, which makes it all the _more_ harder for him to do the exercises.

'What are you doing, Honey?' she wants to know.

'Exercising a bit,' he answers, not stopping to face her.

Yes, she can see that. Duh, that's obvious. Her question, is really her wanting to know what he's doing with Goten pressing him down like that. She of all people, knows that sleeping children are the heaviest luxuries any person could carry. If anyone can keep the weight of a sleeping child in their arms and still go about their activities, they're more than admirable in her eyes.

Her poor Goku, she thinks, picks up her feet again to finish her walk to him. He must've wanted to do this with Goten so badly, only to be dealt with Goten falling asleep on him, and being left in a difficult position like this. Her poor Goku.

'You can put Goten to bed, you know. Let me do it for you,' she holds out her arms to take their son from him. 'It'll be easier to finish your exercise that way.'

Only then, does he stop doing his exercise. Instead of looking at her, or even using his hand to take Goten off himself, he first looks at Goten. A frown shows on his face as he looks down at their sleeping son, and when he lifts his head to look at her, she thinks that he's going to tell her to take Goten off him, but he only shakes his head.

'I want him like this,' he says calmly, before returning his eyes to their sleeping son on him.

'Are you sure?' she presses only out of concern for him and his comfort.

'I want him like this,' he repeats just as calmly before, the only addition being the fact that he shakes his head again.

To anyone else, his head shaking may have seemed like a contradiction of the words that he is saying, but knowing him the way that she does, she just understands that his action, is to confirm to her, that he wouldn't have it any other way. That's just that, and...

Suddenly, her eyes grow bigger at the sight unfolding before her. As Goku brings his body up and down, aiding his elevation with one hand behind his hand, while the other is firmly holding sleeping Goten down on him, she feels like her being is starting to melt, to dissolve, rather.

This, to her, is too precious, that she reaches for her heart to keep in place, so that she can hold onto her dear life for much longer. The way that her heart is quivering, she can't trust it to keep alive for much longer.

She knows that Goku likes that special time with Goten when he's doing his nightly routine, but this is different. This is more than bonding. This, to her, is Goku having rocked Goten to sleep. It's Goku keeping Goten close to him, and not loosing him from his hold, even in his sleep, just so they can have their special time.

He doesn't need to express to her, that he wants to see this exercise to the end, the way he started it. And she definitely doesn't need him to tell her that being in Gohan's house, stripped and robbed him of his normal home routine … Him and Goten... There's no need for the words to be said, that didn't come out of his mouth, because his previous insistence of Goten being with him while he exercised, clearly has a deeper meaning to her now.

'Oh, Goku...' she slightly chokes out.

With teary eyes, she stares at her husband and son, a hand firmly pressed over her heart to keep it from bursting, she simply can't... She can't. She just can't with the jolting currents inside, within her...

* * *

 **Fifth,** Sexual Goku.


	5. Chapter 5

**Fifth,** Sexual Goku.

* * *

Up until a second ago, he'd lazily been laying on their bed, with his feet crossed at the ankles, eyes drooped, and his mind far away from thinking anything important. Lazed out like that, at this time of the evening even, in his mind, he'd simply been relaxing his body and nerves after a very eventful day. It never entered his thoughts, that when Chi-Chi steps out of the bathroom in a towel, he'll suddenly _feel_ like he'd been waiting for her to finish her bath.

But that's exactly what happens.

Although he doesn't abandon his lazy post on the bed, his drooping eyes _do_ lift up just a little, and his attentiveness comes alive, to meet her presence with full awareness. Because he hadn't been waiting for her in any sense, how her appearance all of a sudden translates into him being thankful for her presence, he can't figure out. He only knows for sure that he feels glad to have her here, and he can't care enough about it to want to understand the logic behind it.

What matters is that she's here, and he feels like this. What's the point of trying to understand something that doesn't take anything away from the fact that he –out of the blue- feels like he needs to bursts out about the day's events? He feels how he feels, and that's all that he needs to concentrate on.

He can't say why, but something about laying his eyes on her when she entered the room, brought him to a point where he wants to go over today's events with her. He can reason that maybe his sudden feeling, has to do with the fact that she had been there together with him for a change, or maybe that it has everything to do with how here at home, he's finally getting a moment alone, but whatever it is, it's not the important thing here.

'So much happened today, huh, Chi-Chi?' he begins.

'Yes,' she answers while walking to their chest of drawers.

His eyes accurately follow her steps and movements, without taking the conversation further. If he keeps his eyes on her, his mouth will know to stay quiet at relevant times, so that they can have a conversation and share opinions. He admits that sometimes, he gets so excited that he only talks and talks, without giving her a chance to really have a conversation with him. Tonight, after today, he wants a conversation, only that with her.

'There was the Cube that came to get us, and then travelling all across the universe. That was magnificent, wasn't it, Goku?' she asks as she reaches for her body lotion on top of the chest.

Her smile, he'd heard in her voice when she spoke, but he only gets to see it when she turns his way and starts walking towards the bed. It's not a wide smile, although, he's seen it enough times to recognise it as one that is reflecting from her soul. At least, this way she's confirming that she loved the day as much as he did, even if for different reasons.

'Not really,' he answers her with a shrug. 'Not for me.'

It's his truth. The universe and travelling across it, he's seen and done it before, so for him it wasn't all that. The truth is, he stopped being awed after the first two times of seeing it and travelling behind Whis. It's beautiful to see, though, that he'll admit.

'I'll bet,' she turns her smile into something bigger for him. 'For you, the highlight was your fight with Hit, wasn't it?'

She knows him too well, he thinks as he smiles back at her. She knows him too well, that she doesn't need him to do more than smile, to let her know that he agrees with her that yes, he liked that he got to show off his power to Hit and impress him some.

'I thought so,' she replies.

She reaches the bed just as she finishes saying that, giving her enough time to take a seat on the edge of their bed, her back to him, and start with applying lotion on one of her arms. Only when she finishes with her first arm, when she moves onto her next arm, does she speak again.

'But what about being swallowed by Super Shenron?' she wants to know. 'Wasn't that amazing for you?'

'It was,' he agrees. 'I liked his colour. It's better than our Shenron's.'

Right then, short bursting sounds in succession from his wife reach him, successfully letting him know that his answer amuses her. Although his intention hadn't been to make her laugh, he's quietly glad that he has. Making her laugh is always such a nice treat, compared to how deeply he makes her worry most of the time.

'Really, Goku, that's the best thing that you can say about him?' she wonders, her laugh still lingering in her voice.

'Yeah,' he shrugs. 'I was more amazed by that Zeno god. He's so small. Like Goten, right?'

For only a brief time, she looks over her shoulder, at him, to firmly tell him, 'Goten isn't like that god. That god is completely like a child. Goten's a bit more mature than that.'

That's an opinion of hers, he thinks while she turns back. His opinion on that, is that he likes Zeno just fine. Obviously, he likes Goten more, but Zeno seems like he'd be fun to be around as well. For a god, Zeno certainly seems like more than how grouchy Lord Beerus mostly is.

'Goten's very playful, Chi-Chi,' he reminds her. 'He's not _that_ mature.'

'That's not how I meant it,' she tells him, 'but I suppose that if Zeno's a god, he must be more than a child. If you look at how childish Lord Beerus and his brother are around each other, it must be a godly thing.'

'Yeah,' he nods, 'those two really don't get along. It's like they are me and Vegeta, not brothers.'

With his sons as the perfect example of a brotherly relationship, he reasons that it's only fair for him to hold that same expectations for all the brothers in the world. Not that he cares either way, how other brothers interact with each other, but his default thought about how brothers are with each other, will always be his two sons' relationship.

'Speaking of brothers…' Chi-Chi turns to him, her expression alerting him of her wonder before she continues with, 'I didn't know that Whis had a sister. Or that Lord Beerus had a brother for that matter. That was a surprise.'

It had been a surprise for him too when he'd first met Champa and Vados. In after Vados had revealed that Champa was Lord Beerus' brother, he'd found it surprising to fully accept. Lord Beerus never looked like someone who had a brother, and much less acted like it. Remembering that, he can completely understand Chi-Chi's surprise, that he pulls himself up a bit to talk about it with her.

'Vados and Champa,' he states their names just in case she forgot them. 'Yeah, I met them when I was training with Whis. Vados is not as nice as Whis, though.'

He doesn't believe or think that Vados is a bad person, but if he compares her to Whis, there are so many differences that stand out between them. The only thing that likes to think about her, is that she is older than Whis, which makes it possible that she is stronger than Whis. But then again, Vegeta is older than him, he's in no way stronger than him.

'Or considerate, apparently,' she says, turning back to start applying lotion on her legs.

'What do you mean?'

'I saw how when the barrier broke and shards of glass flew everywhere,' she explains, 'Whis came over to shield us, but when I looked over at Universe 6, Vados was simply seated. It was like she wanted everyone to care for themselves.'

Oh, he realises. That's nothing new. Not from Vados at least. He saw her do it once before, so it didn't surprise him to see it again.

'She's like that,' is his casual reply. 'She did that at Lord Beerus' place too, when she showed up with Champa. Maybe she just doesn't care.'

That other time, he clearly remembers that once Lord Beerus flew out of his castle's front door, bringing with him a strong force of an attack, Vados only shielded herself, while she moved out of harm's way, leaving Champa to care for himself against Lord Beerus' attack. He remembers thinking that Whis would've placed a barrier around both him and Lord Beerus, which momentarily led him to wonder if she was a nice person at all. He never thought about it again, but if Chi-Chi noticed something about Vados, there must be something there. He doesn't want to talk about Vados, however.

'Maybe…' she muses in agreement.

After that, she gets onto her feet, and then drops her towel down to the bed. His first thought at that, is that he doesn't mind her naked in front of him, with her back turned at that. Her naked body is nothing that he hasn't seen before, and right now, he's just enjoying their talk; he couldn't be bothered to think anything else. He'll admit that he rarely gets to see her apply lotion on her stomach (her whole body, in fact), with a view from behind, but it's not a major event either.

The small shift from thinking like that, comes when she finishes with her stomach and moves onto her back. Seeing her reach her arms around her back at odd angles, makes him start thinking that maybe, just maybe he should do something to help her with applying her lotion. He starts to think that helping her might not be a bad thing, even if this is something that she is used to doing on her own, without his help.

'But you know what I can't get out of my head about today?' she asks, interrupting his thoughts.

Whatever it is, he thinks, it has to be something that she didn't already mention. And if she didn't mention it before, between her being amazed, and finding things magnificent, it must be a touchy subject.

Yikes, he swallows. He has an idea of what she's going to say.

There's no doubt about it, he's going to hear about that trick he tried while fighting Hit. He knows that she's going to point out just how careless he'd been with that Kaoi-Ken move... Or no, wait, she could remind him how her heart almost stopped, because she thought Frost had killed him. Whichever it is, it's bound to stir up certain sensations in the air between them.

'What?' he asks in what he wants to believe is a casually curious tone.

'The universal anthem,' she shakes her head. 'Who's idea do you think it was?'

Of all the things, it's universal anthem that she can't get over? He's a little to relieved that he's not going to hear her go off about his actions, that he can only stay quiet for a while.

'I expected it to be more descriptive and articulate,' she continues, finish up the last of her back. 'A song made for the glory of the gods. Something to honour their brilliant work, but instead, we get something so... Bland. And short?'

At this point, she looks over her shoulder as if to drive her confusion home, and he can't help it smirk at her. That's his wife all right. When it comes to effeciency and diplomacy, she wants nothing less than the best. He's not surprised that she expected something like that from _an anthem_. This simple difference between them, the trivial divide in personalities between, is one of the things that make sure their marriage remains balanced enough to stability.

'I didn't mind,' he replies. 'As long as I didn't have to wait long for the matches to begin, I didn't care.'

'I know,' she says rather softly, turning back the other way, 'but I still can't get it out of my head. There are just so many questions. Who came up with it? Who decided that it was enough to have just one sentence?'

'Probably Zeno,' he automatically answers.

Really, it wouldn't surprise him, that about Zeno. He doesn't know much about Zeno, but considering how he knows Lord Beerus to be arrogantly majestic, he's sure that Lord Beerus would've made Whis think of something better than, 'The Universe is vast.'

Apparently, his answer surprises Chi-Chi, because she fully turns to him. Her entire naked front, just as her back had been, is now exposed to him, and when she tilts her head like she's thinking about his answer, his eyes automatically gravitate to two very particular spots on her.

'I think you're right,' she says, clearly unaware that he's not looking at her face. 'He is like a child, so maybe he couldn't have been bothered to make it longer, and more I don't know, more anthem-like.'

'Mmm,' he absently agrees, because suddenly, he remembers…

Much to his displeasure, the one unpleasant incident preceding all the major stuff that happened today, comes to the front his brain.

Oh great, he internally groans, it's _that_ memory.

He doesn't want to remember it, he tells himself. Not one single bit of that embarrassing memory, that planted a terrible picture in his head. He has to think fast to block the full surfacing of that memory, because he screams out in rejection of it.

'I like your nipples,' he blurts out, only to block out the image that just came to his mind.

Chi-Chi clearly lost, asks, 'What?'

She heard him, he knows that she did. What she really wants him to do, is explain why he's suddenly saying random things, just because he's looking at her nipples. And why he feels a particular need to let her know about it.

'I like your nipples,' he repeats, consciously aware that he's not giving her what she wants from him.

Following his answer, she looks down at her chest to look for the same thing that he's seeing. Maybe, he reasons as he watches her, he made it sound like there's a difference from how her nipples have always been, to how they are now.

'My nipples?' she wonders curiously. 'Are they different?'

'They're not big,' he explains after shaking his head. 'I like that. No one can see them.'

In his head, it's all so simple. Concentrating on discussing her nipples, distracts him from accepting the memory of what his first encounter with Monaka left in his brain. It may seem extremely silly that finding out the meaning of Monaka's name and seeing it, left him hot and embarrassed, but that's how it is. It left him with an unpleasant image, that he would never like to have in his head again.

When it comes to other people, he's everything but picky, but big nipples, no. Those, absolutely not.

Probably forever, he'll live with the regret of asking for the meaning of Monaka's name. He rarely regrets his actions overall, because having regrets mean living in the past where he can't change things, no matter how hard he tries, except this Monaka thing seems to him like it will be a regret for all of his life.

'You're seeing them,' she points out, looking up at him from her chest, 'so I don't know what you're talking about.'

She doesn't understand, he thinks. He's admiring the smallness of her nipples, that no one is made aware that she even has nipples when her clothes are on. Monaka's nipples on the other hand, are so very visible, that he makes all men look bad. _No one_ shoud be allowed to have such big nipples, because they leave a disturbing image in the mind. And that's after leaving the observer thoroughly embarrassed into speechlessness, for seeing them in the first place.

Gosh, the biggest mistake of his life, had been to recognise that Monaka did indeed have big nipples that stuck out for all the world to see. He doesn't even know if he is fully able to outline the full disturbance behind having Monaka's nipples, a man's nipples, shoved in his face, when he perfectly knows what nipples represent, in quiet, undisturbed times. What he does know, is that he needs to wipe everything about Monaka's nipples, using his wife's smaller ones.

'But I'm me,' he tells her as a way of claiming that he has the right to see them.

Instead of leaving it at that claim, he feels himself spring off the bed, and come to appear just diagonally across her. Because of her position at the corner of the bed, he can't stand directly in front of her, but even so, being this side of her, still allows him enough room and angle to press his palms over her nipples.

'See?' he tests, his eyes lifting to search hers.

He needs to know if she gets what he means, if she understands what he is trying to get across to her. By looking into her eyes as deeply as he is, he's looking to find any sign of understanding in them, but something the complete opposite happens. What started out as a test to prove to her that her nipples aren't immediately visible, unless he went looking for them –unlike Monaka's- all of a sudden turns into his palms becoming sensitive to the feel of her nipples against them. His eyes on her, once again, do what they did previously.

Just as he didn't know that he'd been waiting for Chi-Chi to leave the bathroom, until he laid his eyes on her and simply fell into feeling like he'd been waiting for her, is exactly as how, until two seconds ago, he didn't know that he wanted to feel her. Really, really want to feel her.

'All I see are your hands on me,' she tells him, which her eyes confirm.

She doesn't understand then, he reasons. The memory of his embarrassment back at Lord Beerus' planet, is apparently not in her mind, because she would've connected this to then by now. If she remembered how bothered he'd felt and looked after Monaka's answer, she would understand that compared to the traumatizing, horrifically embarrassing mountain nipples that are Monaka's, he's partly thanking her for not having hers on display like that.

But it doesn't matter anymore anyway.

His intentions with her nipples are no longer centered around blocking the one thing about today that he would not like to recall ever again. His intentions have since shifted from the strongest man in Universe 7's nipples, to the strongest woman in Universe 7's nipples.

'I really like your nipples,' he huskily breathes to let her know that they've stepped away from where they were.

All around him, he feels the air becoming thicker, unbearable to him and his clothed body. And so, not to waste time to delay this, he pulls his palms away from her breast, only to pull his clothes off himself in less time than should be allowed. With every piece of clothing that comes off his body, his hormones go off in equal measure, until the only barrier between them, is his body not attached to her body.

In silence, he gently takes her in his arms and lays her on the bed, positioning himself between her legs, before he unabashedly transitions into his Super Saiyan Blue form, because in the moment, he feels like it. To enjoy this, all that much more, he wants her to be sensitive to him being stronger. When he has to be _so_ very careful, that's when she gets the most out of him. He guesses that it will not surprise her to see him like this, right now, and he's right, because she doesn't even utter an exclamation against his transformation.

It's a risk, being Blue in such a moment when he's tender to his inhibitions, but hey, he's taken a much bigger risk with Hit today, and that was _just_ for showing off. With Chi-Chi, it's much more, so he knows not to make this risk, an actual risk. He elevates his power enough to completely shatter the meaning of outmatching her in physical strength He designs it this way, so that when he condenses all that power into a concentrated suppression, she'll know that his power is not maxed out to overpower her, but never to hurt her.

'Chi-Chi,' he reaches for her hand on the side, lightly grazing his thumb over her skin, 'you _need_ to trust me.'

She must know that he won't hurt her, however, this is the first time that he is giving into something as huge as being Blue at an intimate moment, and his verbal assurances, won't hurt to be heard.

'You won't hurt me,' she whispers in affirmation. 'I know.'

And that's all the permission that he needs to hear from her.

His next touch on her skin, as light as it is, adds fuel to the ache inside of him. His hands on both of her breasts, squeeze an 'Oh,' of a resisting moan from her. She doesn't like him touching her breasts like that, because it leaves a long lasting uncomfortable effect on them, but he knows that to start setting her off, he has to get her uncomfortable. Getting her a tiny bit uncomfortable, always makes his fall into pleasure more instant, instead of gradual.

Right now, in this moment, he doesn't have time to entertain her gradually getting ready for him. Yes, it's selfish, but he wants her readiness to happen instantly.

'Don't, Goku,' she warns him.

He won't. Anymore, that is, because his hands have a much more important job between her legs, leaving her nipples open for his mouth. In an effort to save time, he acts at the same time, digging his right dominant hand between his wife's legs, while his mouth closes over her left nipple and his left arm, he buries under her, to help lift her up just a little bit, to being her closer to him.

Like that, her previous warning to stop making her uncomfortable, fades into delicious sounding appreciation from her throat, and that's before she starts moving about in response to his actions. He continues to delicately message her for just a time longer, enough to give himself time to catch up with her. Once he does, after he's gone back and forth between her nipples twice, in between her appreciating him, and clenching her hands over his sheets for support, he remover his hand from her, to penetrate her. When he reaches a place within her that he is satisfied with, he takes a long still moment to savour in the slippery warmth that's covering him.

He's going to do this right, he tells himself, as he starts to slowly move in and out of her. The sucking on her breast, he cannot disrupt for anything, and moving any faster, will tear his attention away from that particular task. Chi-Chi helps him out some, by lifting her arms to hold him around the hips, as if to make sure that he doesn't take his body anywhere other than where he currently is. Minutes into agonising himself with a slow push and pull motion, his own need fuels him to pick up his pace, but that instantly distracts him from his multitasking, that he settles for focusing his energy into specifically working between her legs.

Until she bursts into vocal colour as she reaches her peak, he continues to carefully drive in and out of her, for the sake of his own pending release. When he joins her in a belated release, he instantly pulls out of her and then adjusts himself, to fall beside her. Letting out a sigh of content, his hand search for hers to intertwine their hands, to share with her in his spent zeal, and fully bask in the moment.

'I should I go and start our dinner,' she says after a while, panting sounding in her voice.

Dinner? Really?

He turns his head to her, because right then, he wants nothing more than to kiss her. He hasn't once kissed her since she came into the room, and he wants to rectify that. He doesn't care about dinner right now, although the fact that she's thinking of him like this, massages his heart in a way that he lifts himself to plant a kiss on her symbolic heart, rather than on her mouth.

'See,' he says while pulling back, 'I told you I like your nipples.'

* * *

 **Sixth,** Agitated Goku.


	6. Chapter 6

**Sixth,** Agitated Goku.

* * *

'You're not supposed to be here,' Goku, turning her way, tiredly says to his wife.

The tired way that the words leave his mouth, is not in the least bit indicative of the way that he feels, but the last thing that he feels like doing, is speaking harshly to his wife, who came all the way here straight from sleep, to find out if everything is all right with him.

' _You're_ not supposed to be here,' she tiredly replies, her eyes closing to help her form a worried yet tiredly sleeping expression. 'It's the middle of the night, Goku. What are you doing out here?'

Clearly, he thinks, before she fully reached him, and he had to stop to attend to her, she saw the commotion of what he'd been doing, but he's been with her for long enough to understand that she's asking for an reason behind his actions.

'I can't sleep,' he gives her part of the problem.

The actual problem is that, his being here, a good walking distance away from the house, at _this_ time of the night, where even Piccolo is asleep, is the result of his profound aggravation. Before she showed up, his chillingly silent screams, as he forcefully punched at the dark air of the night, and his legs worked in furious kicks aimed at the same dark air surrounding him, were also the results of his profound aggravation. More still, his unintentional ground shaking, every one or two minutes, to go with the effective drive of the energy blasts that left his hands, was the result of his profound aggravation as well. This aggravation of his, feels like a great fire burning inside his bones, disturbing his core being by aiming to consume him to ashes, which is why he's here, doing what he thinks he should, to sedate it.

'Meditating wouldn't help?' she asks, sounding as concerned as he knows she is.

Even though he didn't think to try meditating as a calm way of dealing with this agitation that he feels, he shakes his head in response to her question. To him, this agitation of his, is something way beyond provoked anger, that no amount of controlled and gentle approaches towards sedation, will work against it. It's just too deep and personal, that no, meditation would be precisely like sitting across Golden Frieza with his eyes closed, and his hands tied behind his back. But she doesn't know that, and because she doesn't know that, she won't fully be able to understand the situation that he's in, much less his need to be here, instead of making useless attempts at meditation.

'It's about Black, Chi-Chi,' he tells her after a long sigh.

In his life, he's felt extreme anger before this. He's also been tested and pushed to feel out of his own meek and comfortable skin a few times in the past, but _this_ is a whole other level of aggravation, that he has never, _ever_ had the disruptive intrusion of accommodating in his mind and feelings before. Truthfully, as many villains as he's had to fight against, and as many opponents as he's had to defeat from the time that he was twelve, none of them before Black, led him to be in this current state of provoked agitation. Black created his own level inside Goku, that has nothing to do with his previous god status.

'But…' Chi-Chi tests through a confused frown, 'Black was defeated, wasn't he? Why must you still continue to train for him?'

'I'm not training for him,' he tiredly tells her after shaking his head. 'This is about you.'

What he means is, he's doing this all because of Black, but she's the candle that Black lit without permission, to provoke this agitation within him. Again, the tiredness in his tone, has nothing to do with how he feels, but more of a censoring tactic to keep his aggravation from leaking out towards her, when she's not the one to blame.

'Is it about what I said to you about losing to him twice?' she wonders, making it sound like that question has been in her mind just waiting to be aired.

That's not it, he thinks, but for her to think of it that way, she must've said it in way that left her feeling guilty, and so to remember word for word what she said to him last night at Capsule Corp, he doesn't answer her. Only, she takes his silence to mean, 'yes,' because she begins to explain herself before he can assure her that her words haven't played a role in his mind since she said them, otherwise he would've remembered them.

'I was just shocked and scared, Goku,' she starts apologetically. 'I didn't mean to sound like I was blaming you. You have to believe that I didn't ever blame you for losing to Black… Believe me, that was just a mother worried for her son's life, nothing else.'

'It's not what you said,' he assures her, giving up on trying to remember what she said to him.

'Are you sure?' she presses, taking a long step towards him, 'Because if you're out here shaking up the ground, and lighting up the night with your energy blasts, just to make yourself stronger for something that I said without thinking, then it _is_ it, whether you admit to me or not.'

'That's not it, I promise,' he breathes, taking a short step to bring them closer, and perhaps set it in for her, that he's not in any way harmed by what she said to him. 'It's just Black, and what he did to you and Goten.'

The thought… Just the thought of what Black did to his family… The thought makes him burn up inside as though countless suns were being born within him.

'Really?' she wants to know, her eyes contract in what he identifies as sympathy and doubt. 'It's about how Black killed us in the past?'

Technically, the answer to what she's asking him, is yes, that's what it is. Overall, though, considering how he knows that she's not asking it in the intricate way that has him agitated like this, he'll have to say that no, it's not that Black killed them, it's literally _how_ he killed them, that's the catalyst to all of this.

'Yes,' he answers nonetheless.

'I know it's not a comfort,' she gently says, 'but at least be grateful that it wasn't in this time that he killed us. That kind of pain never gets easier, but maybe this one will... You'll be okay, Goku.'

Her eyes plead with him to accept what she's saying and take her word it, because she's had experience with dealing with his deaths in her past presents, but he can't accept her words, no matter how sincere her eyes are.

'He used _my_ eyes to look at you with hatred, Chi-Chi!' he heartily cries and distances himself from her. 'He used _my_ heart to feel hatred for you! He used _my_ hands to kill you! He most likely used _my_ mouth to laugh at the whole thing, like… Like you didn't matter to _my_ body, and that is why I'll _never_ forgive him,' he ends, just a breath from breathing like a man about to die.

Fine, the soul inside the body hadn't been his, and yes, Black killed Chi-Chi and Goten, but the fact that Black used the same body that loves his family to do it, has him just once specific way of agitated to be here. And until that agitation is put under, he wants to be here for as long as he needs to be.

Immediately, from the way that Chi-Chi pulls in a breath and then visibly lets it out, he knows that she grasps his meaning. Maybe if he'd taken the time to outline to her just how deeply intricate the mechanics of Black's actions are burning up his core, she'd get a clearer picture than this partly blurry one, but that she understands the overall drive behind this, is enough.

'How long do you think you'll need?' she asks with concern for him.

'I don't know,' he shrugs.

He really doesn't know. As he is, he doesn't feel like he'll get to pump the burning out of his system in just the four hours that he calculates are left of night, but he'll do what he whatever it takes.

'I'll go back inside then,' she resigns in a defeated whisper, and he only nods.

To everything, he wishes that this was one of those times when his wife could say something comforting to him, and then they'd have a happy ending, where he follows her back to bed, but it's not like that here. Here and this, is an ugly time for him, and although his emotions aren't directed towards her, she knows to give him what he needs, more than insist on trying to smooth it out through words, and endless comforts. The fact that she'll be inside the house, just a little way from where he is, where she always is, is as much comfort as he can take from her right now; more than that, no. It's ugly, but sometimes, wordy and soothing comforts just aren't enough.

* * *

 **Seventh,** Sneaky Goku.


	7. Chapter 7

**Seventh,** Sneaky Goku.

* * *

Anyone privy to the essence of the Son family, would naturally assume that Chi-Chi would wholeheartedly enjoy to decadently savouring a time such as now.

They'd assume that at a time when her house chores are finished, and she only has herself for luxurious company, she would cherish the precise quiet that she has, to catch up on her television pleasures, or at the very least indulge in some magazines as any woman given a break from the reality of life would do. They'd think that she would want absolutely nothing to prick through her alone time, thus disturbing her supposed-to-be-indulgence, and then suck her into a routine of actions that she is already familiar with, leaving her unable to pick up back on her relaxation and self-catering time.

Only, it's not quite like that for her.

It's not the exact opposite of that either, but it's just not quite like that for her.

Perhaps, and she thinks this often in her absolutely quiet times, she's been ruined by the many strong males that constantly surround her, endlessly showering her with work here and there, or better yet, her father's constant visits have spoilt her to never fully appreciate quiet and settled time, but she only knows that she doesn't quite love the nothingness of freedom from her marital, maternal and human duties as much as she should.

She likes them, the quiet breaks, that she does, only, not to the extent that she should. Which is why, when her husband appears a few steps away from her, her heart silently rejoices at getting a break from her break. Her magazine, currently on page seven, featuring a story of a model who's faced countless challenges, and still made it, she closes inside her hand, after her middle and index fingers bookmark her page. Just in case Goku leaves prematurely, she'd like to pick up back onto her page, without paging through the magazine first.

'Hi,' gladly leaves her mouth.

She would add a smile to welcome him as well as demonstrate her relief at having her silent break interrupted, but he's got a goofy smile on his face that she can only describe as suspicious, so she reserves her own smile.

'Hi,' he replies, lifting his hand to wave at her.

His waving along with a greeting is nothing new to her, he likes to do that for some reason, especially with her and Goten, but the very familiar book in his hand, _is_ new, and very much worthy of her narrowed eyes. If she suspected that his goofy smile equalled to suspicion a second ago, Goten's drawing book in his hand, is enough confirm that he _is_ being suspicious. Her dear lovely husband makes it his business to not touch, let alone go near Goten's books, and here he is firmly holding Goten's drawing book in his hand?

No, her eyebrows cannot remain in place, when her husband's unexplained behaviour is pulling them to reach higher to her forehead. What is he planning?

'Ask me,' he prompts her with a smile, apparently knowing very well that she's holding herself from asking him what his plan is.

All right, firstly, why did he sound like a child with a new toy, that's just waiting for any friend, or even any random child to ask him about their new toy, just so he can show it off in great detail? That just makes want to know all the more. And then secondly, Goku isn't the type to keep things inside. Secrets he can keep, but exciting things that he thinks are worth telling, he can never harbour within him long enough to cover the time between his base state and his preferred transformation. That just makes her really, really want to know. And so yes, she indulges him, at the same time relieving herself the pressure of keeping her questions held in.

'Why do you have Goten's drawing book?' is her first urgent question, followed by, 'And why do you look like that?' for her to conclude with what she wants to know in detail, 'What are you up to?'

'I couldn't find a writing pad,' Goku answers her, waving the drawing book in front her, 'but I found this. It was on Goten's table.'

For now, his answer aside, just so she's clear, he's been in the house long enough to snoop inside Goten's room, and she's only _now_ learning of his presence? Doesn't he know that she would've liked for him to interrupt her earlier, no matter what mischief or thing he had brought along with him? He knows this about her, he knows that she cherishes being pulled from relaxation for some trivial thing or other, but evidently, going to Goten's room to find drawing book when he couldn't find a writing pad, took more priority for him. Taking that into consideration, she's sparked into remembering his answer and her suspicion of him.

'What did you want the pad for?' she carefully wonders.

Her eyes are still narrowed at him, because her suspicion of him is still very much awake, but she made sure to carefully ask him what he wanted the pad for, so that he doesn't get defensive from feeling accused of doing something wrong; like taking Goten's drawing book when he couldn't find a pad, or not paying enough attention to how she arranges their house, to remember where she keeps the pads that uses to make her endless shopping lists.

'I wanted it for you,' he answers.

And he does it so casually, as if he's talking to her about something that Vegeta commented to him about. What he also does casually, is step closer to her and start showing her the empty pages in Goten's drawing book.

'But Goten's book has a lot of empty pages inside too,' he says to her.

Clearly, she agrees in her head, she can see (and understand) that as a substitute for a writing pad, Goten's drawing book is acceptable. However, the question that she needs to know in detail, is still unanswered, thus, she cannot accept to leave it at him saying that.

'Again, I'll ask,' she lets out, 'what are you up to? You've got your suspicious face on.'

After chuckling at her last comment (which just proves to her that he's not denying being suspicious), he answers with, 'I'm not being suspicious. I only want to help you.'

 _He only wants to help her._

She repeats his words in her head, to see if they somehow carry some suspicion in their veins, like she's convinced they do.

 _He only wants to help her._

Ha! Funnier words have never been spoken in this house today, she muses while looking at him smiling at her like that; smiling suspiciously. It's not entirely that she doesn't trust her husband to want to help her, or even offer to help her out of the blue, it's that he's got his suspicious face on, and she just can't bring herself to believe that he's just being genuine for the sake of sincerity. For that suspicion of her, she tames herself to look away from his suspicious features, to the drawing book in his hand. What connection is there between him and the book with plenty of pages? Just what in the world is he really planning?

'Help me with what, Goku?' she wants to know, bringing her eyes back to his face.

'Anything you want,' he says. 'Look, you can write down everything that you want me to do for you, and I'll do it.'

Over the years, she's learned to conceal her shock better, but for this one, this shock literally being close to her and well, unexpected, she can't do anything to hide her shock from him. All the signs that usually point to her being shocked, momentary muteness, enlarging eyes and frozen limbs, claim her on the spot, leaving her without strength to fight them. Like a skilled opportunist, Goku uses her momentary state of shock to take the magazine from her hand, and replace it with Goten's drawing book.

'Anything you want, Chi-Chi,' he gently pushes in a lure, which revives her from her shock to look at him properly.

How him telling her to compile a list of what she wants him to do for her, isn't classified as suspicious by him, she can't understand. Anyone with five active senses would clearly be able to tell that the suspiciousness of it all, is right here floating between them. Suspicious fact number one, he _never_ willingly wants to help her out of the spontaneity of his heart. And suspicious fact number two, coincidentally three days after learning that Vegeta went off to train with Whis, he _simply_ wants to help her?

Ha! Her grandmother is a monkey then.

Sure, she'll give him credit that yes, with the bigger things, he'll effortlessly do whatever for her, including slicing up mountains to build an outdoor fireplace. Although, with the little things, the less heavier things, he dies to even _hear_ about. He shouldn't stand in front of her and tell her that he only wants to help her, and that that is in no way suspicious, because in return he'll get her signature sceptical stare.

'Don't look at me like that,' he mildly complains, sounding like her stare is making him break. 'I _really_ only want to help you.'

She wonders, as she stares at him without faltering, she really wonders if at this very moment, it registers in his brain, that she has been married to him for more than twenty years, and knows all the sneaky parts within his beautiful soul. She also wonders if it registers in his mind, that he has a mini clone that she deals with on a daily basis, who she knows from the marrow to the tip of his last hair strand. She really wonders about this, because he wouldn't be insisting on that cheap line with her.

'Okay,' she nods in acceptance, 'you only want to help me, but you want something in return, don't you?'

Her question, despite being a question, is not really her asking him to confirm it. Some facts, when it comes to Goku, are so irrefutable that not even supposed 'evidence' would be able to clear them from being facts. This man, she knows like she knows how to reflexively count, so when he laughs softly, looking away for a second, she triumphantly exclaims out the confirmation that she already knew.

'I knew it! You _do_ want something.'

And it's also confirmed, he _was_ being suspicious, until he involuntarily came clean with his laugh just now. How he honestly thought that he could be sneaky without her notice, is a language that she's never heard before.

'I don't want anything _right now_ ,' he explains, before covering his face with the magazine that he took from her hand. Only after he apparently feels like he's safe enough away from her stare, does he complete his defence with, 'Just in the future.'

Future, he says? What future? The way that she knows him, his definition of future could range from two hours later and infinity, which ultimately means that he could be here for this second, only to be gone in the next half of the day. Yeah, no, she doesn't trust his future 'assurances', if she can call his dodging that.

'What's going to happen in the future?' she questions, roughly pulling the magazine away from his face, and then letting it loose to fall between them.

It's silly of him to think that he can hide behind a magazine after being caught out, she thinks while lightly shaking her head. It's a little cute too, especially with how after realising that she pulled his shelter away, his face breaks into an expression that is the cousin to a sulking smoulder, but still, it's silly, and really not helping his case right now.

'Nothing,' he assures her, 'but lately, I feel like my body needs heavy training, so just in case I need to go to King Kai's, or something...'

Upon hearing his answer, her lips draw together along with her eyes, while her eyes glare at him.

This guy...

Next, her brain starts to size him up, trying to figure out exactly how she feels about him as he stands.

This husband of hers, he thinks that he's _so_ clever...

 _King Kai's or something_ , he said, when they both clearly know that 'or something' really means a certain being by the name of Whis. He thinks that he's so clever that she won't figure it out. Or maybe, he doesn't want to mention Whis by name, because their last conversation about him going to train with Whis, didn't go down well. Evidently though, despite having resigned to staying home and being a good grandpa to Pan, he's obviously been plotting his escape since. He obviously still thinks that he is so oily that he can fit through her tight awareness, but she'll show him.

'In case you need to go to train?' she tests, looking him right in the eyes. 'So, you're bargaining in advance?'

'Yes,' he pulls the word, to show that he doesn't like to admit this, 'but that's why you can give me as much responsibility as you want. Goten's book has plenty of pages, see?'

Wasting no time to demonstrate what he means, he pulls the drawing book from her, and begins to hastily flip through it. While she watches him do that, a thought that never occurred to her during this whole time, comes to her now. That thought, is that while he's evidently thought this sneaky approach through, it's only to show that he really does, with all of him, want to go and train with Whis; but with her permission. When she remembers how abruptly he burst through Gohan's wall that day, only to accept her words and stay at home despite wanting to go off and train, it falls into place that he _really_ does want her approval on this. He may be using a sneaky way of bargaining to get what he wants, but all the same, he wants her total approval.

Automatically, prompted by the realisation, she feels herself relax to his suggestion, because either way, he'll get what he wants anyway. She, better than anyone, knows that her husband is the type of man to do what he wants to do, when he feels like he can, or wants to do it, which means that he wouldn't have a problem sneaking off without telling her. The fact that he's held back from leaving for her sake, is enough reason for her to cave into what he wants. But, for trying to sneak bargain this, instead of bargaining the right way, she'll play around with him for a little before she lets him know that.

'I'll think about it,' she tells him, dropping her vision to the book in his hand.

'Come on, _please_ ,' he tries in a desperate beg, his tone bringing her eyes back to his. 'I feel like my arms are spaghetti. Feel them,' he finishes, thrusting his supposed spaghetti arms for her to feel.

Although she indulges him in feeling his arms, it takes a lot more grovelling on his part, for her to finally break from her show and tell him that yes, she'll make him very long lists of everything that he can do for her, in exchange for his 'future' plans. And so, two weeks later, when she watches him fly off into the sky with Whis, and her fingers are firmly pressing into the metallic railing of Bulma's balcony after strongly fighting him on leaving with Whis, she remembers their agreement and its consequent benefits, which is why she decides to let it go. After all, he _did_ thoroughly pay his dues to her.

* * *

 **Eighth,** Cheating Goku.


	8. Chapter 8

**Eighth,** Cheating Goku.

* * *

'Do you think that Goku would cheat on you?'

Although the question, as proficiently delivered as it is, reaches her quietly waiting ears, Chi-Chi carries on sipping her afternoon tea, precisely as someone undisturbed would do. Save for slightly bowing her head for her lips to meet the teacup in the middle, she neither flinches any facial muscle, nor emotionally falters within, in primary response to the question.

If anything was to disturb her overall demeanour at this very moment, it would be either Goku, or Goten. Or their actions, rather, she mentally corrects herself. Goku, because he's currently making a soft ruckus in their bedroom, signalling how he's finally awake from his nap, and Goten, because she has the sneaking suspicion that he's outside _literally_ trying to teach Krillin's daughter how to fly. Actions by those two, are basically the only things at the moment that could disturb her in any way, but _that_ question?

No.

That's just a question, her mind calmly registers as she takes a timed sip of tea into her mouth. A weightless, undeserving-of-a-reaction-from-her question, but a question all the same. And being a question in essence, she _should_ answer it. Her reasoning tells her that as social courtesy has it written in invisible, intangible ink, questions are asked specifically to be answered, and yet this one…

It doesn't arouse interest in her.

Neither does it create unease inside of her.

If anything, the most it does to her is well, _nothing_ …

And that being so, isn't it fitting then, to simply ignore it? As she would simply ignore an ant passing by her feet, shouldn't she also ignore this insignificant question? Because really, a question like that, which is nothing for her to think about, nothing for her to wonder about, or even to lose the slightest composure over, has no place meeting an answer from her.

Yes, she decides, taking another sip from her teacup, she's going to ignore that question.

To communicate this decision of hers, her head tilts to the precise angle of Eighteen's view in complete silence. Her controlled silence alone, should properly get her message across to the other woman, but evidently, it doesn't. Instead, her silent stare apparently only makes it seem like the other woman now has her undivided attention.

' _Did_ you hear me?' Eighteen urges for an answer, her voice sounding close to irritated.

'I did,' Chi-Chi immediately nods.

Without a missing a beat of space between the question and her answer, she chooses to answer this new question, and not just for the minimal irritation in Eighteen's voice. With this new question, there's nothing to think about, when it makes perfect sense for her to answer without reserve. Unlike the other question, this new question, she deems to deserve an answer, when she weighs it according to the measure of weight that she used to decide whether, or not to answer the previous question.

To someone as astute and aloof as Eighteen, however, to someone very particular about the things that purposely come from her mouth, Chi-Chi's immediate unhindered response to this second question of hers, is perfect cause for her to thin her lips just a fraction more than she narrows her eyes, to paint the perfect blend of scepticism and exasperation towards the other woman. Most people would not be able to pull off a combination of the two, but to Eighteen, crossed expressions between the unbothered dismissive and threateningly intimidating spectrum, come naturally.

In short, Eighteen is _not_ impressed by her selective strategy.

She's actually in awed disbelief of it, while feeling irritated.

And it shows; in her eyes and on her face.

'Your answer?' Eighteen dryly asks, through slanted eyes.

Since they've been talking for a while now, gently jumping from this topic to that, in accordance to their respective personalities and interests, Chi-Chi can honestly say that she's automatically inclined to give the other woman an answer to whatever question may be posed during their talk, but for that _one_ particular question, she simply has no feeling _of need_ to provide an answer. There are questions worthy of answers, and then there are those that are deserving of dismissal, and Eighteen's first question is the latter. It's only a question of how she dispels talk of that question altogether, so that she doesn't have to keep ignoring it.

'Eighteen?' she softly calls, carefully placing her teacup in the palm of her left hand. 'Are you just looking for a conversation?'

She's asking, because she really feels no need, or urgent push to answer that question, and so, in the unlikely event that she _was_ to answer that question, she needs to know what her answer will lead to. If her answer will lead to a long winded conversation of 'whys' and 'hows', explanations in other words, she's not interested to entertain it. Although, on the other hand, if Eighteen's question is meant to clear up a doubt that _she_ may have about Goku, she's _still_ not willing to entertain it. But she's willing to hear an answer nonetheless.

'Yes,' curtly leaves Eighteen's mouth, 'and _no_. I also heard that Goku's been sneaking around lately, and now he has a phone from Bulma. Doesn't that seem suspicious to you?'

After hearing the other woman's answer, just as she did the first time that Eighteen posed the question of Goku cheating, Chi-Chi isn't moved to do anything other than bring the teacup back to her lips for another sip, and in her head, silently answers the accusations from Eighteen.

Goku _had_ been sneaking around, yes. And yes, he does have a new cell phone from Bulma. Those are solid facts, only, nothing about those two facts, is even a minimal base of a reason to make her feel threatened to answer the question that's still hanging in the air, waiting to be answered. The thing is, (and this always makes her internally sigh whenever she thinks about it) that other people doubting Goku, has _nothing_ to do with her, neither does it affect her certainties in life. She has no mission in life, to convince people of the Goku that _she_ has access to.

And that being so, she still won't give Eighteen an answer.

She has nothing to prove, or to explain.

Not to anyone.

Timely, and fortunately for Eighteen, at the very moment of her deciding yet _again_ that she will not answer Eighteen, she hears the door to their bedroom open. The opening bedroom door, not only informs her that Goku is leaving the room to come to the kitchen for something tasty to boost him out of his grogginess from sleep, it also saves her from doing the unsavoury thing of failing to answer the other woman.

'Here Goku comes,' she gladly announces, gesturing in the direction that he's coming from. 'You can ask him yourself.'

Either Eighteen is _very_ eager to get an answer to her question, or she is too fed up with not being answered, to remain seated, because at the sight of Goku, she jumps out of her seat and flashes to him. Chi-Chi's head duly turns to accompany Eighteen's travelling body, catching her just as she's coming to a stop a hair strand away from Goku. Now, while Chi-Chi appreciates Eighteen's eagerness as a source of light amusement, and she just as much appreciates Goku's timely arrival as the perfect save, she highly doubts that her partly asleep husband will appreciate Eighteen's eagerness and her gratitude in the same way. In his sleepy state, he must only be ready to appreciate something tasty, not two women.

'Hey! Would you cheat on her?' Eighteen asks threateningly, thrusting her face into his personal space and leaving him no space to breathe.

Watching the scene, Chi-Chi already knows that Goku didn't process anything that Eighteen just did. In his head, straight from sleep, he doesn't realise that Eighteen is too close to him, he didn't see how she just jerked her thumb towards Chi-Chi, to demonstrate the 'her' part of her question, and he definitely didn't retain anything about that question in his mind. It's clear, Chi-Chi smiles to herself, the signs are all on his face, that despite his open eyes, and even his moving body, his mind is still blank of the actual reality that he is living in.

'Huh?' he softly scratches his cheek, at the same time testing his eyesight by closing and opening his eyes two times.

Scowling, (probably to scare him) Eighteen repeats her question, 'Would you cheat on Chi-Chi?'

'Chi-Chi?' he wonders thoughtfully.

' _That's_ what I said,' Eighteen aggressively answers him. 'Would you cheat on her?'

There he is, Chi-Chi notices, there awake Goku is coming to life. He'd started coming to life when her name was mentioned, but apparently hearing the same question a third time, does something to mess with his understanding. It's nearly like watching a barrier rise up between a reality that makes sense to Goku, and his understanding of life as he knows it, because after blinking three times in confusion, he looks around Eighteen as if to find his lost understanding quietly hiding behind her.

Behind Eighteen, he doesn't find his lost understanding, but he does a get a visual of her, Chi-Chi, the topic of the question on the left, patiently watching their exchange, and doing nothing to interrupt it. Finding her and meeting her eyes, he raises his eyebrows in question, for her to help him handle this situation, because it doesn't make sense to him, but she refuses. Shaking her head and raising her hands in surrender to him, she silently tells him that she is not getting involved. The reason that she used his entrance as an escape, is that she felt exactly as he feels now.

'But...' he turns his attention back to Eighteen as soon as he realises that he has no help in his wife, 'I just woke up.'

Wow, Chi-Chi can't help it break out into a big smile at his answer, what a last line of defence.

It's just like Goku to be that way. On the one hand, he _is_ deterring, politely saying that he doesn't want to answer that question, while on the other, he's just being genuine to the person that he is. The person that he is, clearly just woke up, and really doesn't know what's going on here.

'So?' Eighteen snaps. ' _Would_ you cheat, or not?'

This is too good! There Eighteen is, not mindful of Goku's pleas, and there Goku is, not interested to indulge Eighteen. The back and forth, and then the outcome of this, should be entertaining enough to last her for days.

'On _Chi-Chi_?!' Goku cries out as if to say he needs _specific_ clarity on that, because they all know that he heard Eighteen previously when she said that name.

His exclamation visibly irritates Eighteen, that she steps back to allow space between them. As Chi-Chi knows about her, Eighteen has the tendency to severely snap when she feels overwhelmed by her exasperation, which is probably the reason why she feels that it's best to physically be away from Goku. Not that she would be able to do Goku any harm even if she tried, but Chi-Chi appreciates the Eighteen's thoughtfulness to remain courteous in their home.

'You're a real bright one aren't you?' Eighteen retorts, shoving a stern finger towards him. 'Of course, I mean her! Or _maybe_ , you think that I mean Bulma, huh? I know what you've been up to lately. Krillin tells me everything, you know.'

For only two seconds after her said piece, Goku blankly stares at Eighteen, making it appear like he is doing his best to catch his mind up with what his ears heard, but he can't seem to find a path for it. And then, suddenly, with no forewarning, or indication of him going to do so, he bursts out laughing.

The sound of his laughter breaks through the silent air with as much rich intensity and contagious effect, as to his now shaking body, that she can't do anything to stop herself from joining him. Even if Goku's laughter wasn't contagious, she'd still find an excuse to join him with her own bursting giggles. Eighteen, on the other hand, isn't as tickled by either one of them's laughing sounds, because she makes an irritated noise come from her mouth, before she flips her hair to the side, and then turns away from Goku. The scowl on her face once she's turned away, Chi-Chi takes complete notice of, but between her giggling and indulging in the sound of Goku's richly contagious laughter, she doesn't have energy left to sedate Eighteen's impatience.

'You know what,' Eighteen announces, ' _never mind_! I'm leaving.'

Not even a second passes after her saying that, before Eighteen completely disappears from their sight and house, leaving just the two of them and the mixed blend of their mirthful sounds in the room. Had Goku eventually planned to give an answer to her question, he never will now, not with how fast she gave them leaving her notice, and thereafter made herself scarce. _However_ , her announcement, followed by her leaving, is not unusual.

It's abrupt, yes.

It's also unexpected, yes.

But it's perfectly Eighteen.

She and Eighteen have had their share of conversations for the time that she's been here in this house, and Eighteen is not the type of person to stand through things that make even small attempts at touching her peace as she knows it. If she felt that she still had something left to discuss with Chi-Chi, she would've found a way to stay, despite being irritated with the lack of answers coming from the pair of them. If Eighteen wanted to stay, she would've.

'Aaaahww,' Goku's the first to attempt fading out of his laughter, only, it makes him sound like he's lamenting it. 'She left.'

'It's your fault,' she tells him, trying to sober up a bit.

It really -is his fault. She had been just fine enjoying their show, until he decided that he would laugh at Eighteen's question, and made her unleash her won giggles. When Eighteen had posed the question to her, she immediately thought that it was a ridiculous question, not deserving an answer, but she couldn't find it within herself to laugh, not when she wouldn't be giving the other woman an answer anyway. After Goku's burst though, it became different. Suddenly, she could give herself over to the absurdity of the mere thought of a cheating Goku, and everything just comes rushing to her in the form of giggling release.

'I didn't mean to make her leave,' he defends himself after a long laugh, and composing himself.

'I know.'

'But hey,' he thoughtfully poses, 'have you ever thought about it?'

Hmm?

Oddly, her body freezes like it didn't when Eighteen posed a varied version of his insinuation to her. All of her functions stop to give concentrated attention to staring at him. To her, he's simply starting to lose his mind, and she needs to concentrate on all of him, to find a Goku that she's familiar with. If she doesn't waste a cell of her body turned away from him, she might just be able to save him from the insanity that is starting to take him over.

'Chi-Chi? Did you hear me?' he wonders.

He sounds concerned.

He sounds like himself.

He sounds like a Goku that she is familiar with.

'Hmm,' she nods, only because he's shown a sign of being himself.

'And? Did you ever think about it?' he continues to lead along the same trail.

No, her mind calmly answers, she's never thought about it. What reason would she have had, to think about something so baseless? From the very beginning, they gradually built their marriage from nothing, consequently making their foundation became stronger through the process. Only the two of them know that in their earlier years of marriage, they learned to thoroughly dissect each other, to each other, and thus, grew in rooted intimacy so profound that it could tame even the strongest sun-ray. What she and Goku have, is too solid for her to even consider to wonder about something like that.

'Why would I think about it?' she curiously wants to hear his answer.

As a response to her question, Goku pulls a pensive expression to ask, 'What if it's something to wonder about?'

Something to wonder about, she mentally answers, would be the outcome of him in a match with an opponent that he's never faced before.

Something to wonder about, she thinks, would be the possibility of him actually getting a job, and coming home from work in the evenings.

Something to wonder about, her mind calmly says, would be the idea of him being unable to live his life as a martial artist.

Heck, something else to wonder about, she concludes in her head, would be if birds ever feel cold when it rains.

But cheating Goku, unfaithful Goku, straying Goku and deceiving Goku, is _nothing_ for her to wonder about.

'If it's something to wonder about,' she confidently tells him, 'then I guess Hercule Satan really is the strongest man in the universe.'

She might be conceited and proud to think this, but oh, she's got a reason.

A very solid unbreakable reason.

'Ha!' her loyal, ever-returning-home reason exclaims in a laughing tone. 'To that level, huh?'

When he laughs like that, exactly like no one but the two of them know what they are really about, she feels the concrete holding her conceited pride, lock together much more than before.

And that's that.

No, she doesn't owe anyone any explanation, about the hows and whys, because she has nothing to prove. Not when Goku perfectly proves the solidity of their relationship by coming back to her, even after being all around the world, and being exposed to women who could be better than her.

* * *

 **Ninth,** Kissable Chi-Chi.


	9. Chapter 9

**Ninth,** Kissable Chi-Chi.

* * *

Why on Earth she didn't listen to herself earlier, when she got the idea to gather Goten to her immediately after the big dinner, she can't understand. Seriously, had she listened to herself, had she accepted to remember that Goten can be scarce to find _just_ when she needs him, she would've done the right thing, and kept him at her side for every second after the dinner, until the time came to go home. Had she done that, she wouldn't be going around the big Capsule Corp. property looking for him.

Truthfully, she can't remember how many open doors she's gone through in the last ten minutes since she started looking for Goten, but she has come to the conclusion that Capsule Corp. is much bigger inside, than it looks from the outside. Still, though, as big as it is, she won't be discouraged to stop looking for Goten. Door to door, she continues to go, hoping that each door will be her last, and she will find Goten accidentally asleep somewhere in a room, where she will simply pick him up in her arms, to go.

It's late, she thinks to herself, and they need to go home. All three of them do, so she better speed up her search.

She, especially needs to rest, to be thoroughly washed of the worry that she carried all evening for Goku's sake. Goku too, needs to rest and relax from the weariness of the day. And Goten, well Goten doesn't have school tomorrow, but the overload of stimulation in excitement that he's experienced through all of this Black situation, is too much for someone as young as him, that he properly needs a good night's rest. It's only that for as long as she doesn't find Goten, none of them can get home, and if they can't get home, neither baths, nor resting is on the table for them. She really does need to hurry up and find him-

Unprepared to do so, she comes to a complete standstill at one door, where one question asked, jams through her thoughts and makes her heart feel very afraid. Or at least, she feels like it's fear, the way her heart is suddenly beating like a woodpecker's beak against wood.

It's Vegeta talking to Bulma, posing the question, and normally, she has no mind to pay the things that Vegeta says, except this one question, upsets the balance of her heart's condition. Never mind that she's possibly stuck standing at the door of Vegeta and Bulma's bedroom, because her heart feels an avalanche of fear cascading over it, making sure that she's not focused on anything else, but hearing the rest of the conversation.

'Of course I don't believe it,' Bulma responds to the question that she was asked. 'It's impossible for Goku to be married all this time, and not have kissed Chi-Chi. Can you pass me that spanner, please?'

While Chi-Chi's heart feels the relief of gratefulness towards Bulma, her ears hear a small shuffling noise coming from inside the room, and her mind uses that brief pause in conversation, to confer if she _still_ feels the initial shocking fear that has her stuck here. She doesn't get time to answer herself, though, because Vegeta speaks again.

'But he said that he's never done it.'

'Vegeta,' Bulma says his name, sounding exhausted, 'you know, even men who physically abuse their wives, kiss them. Why would Goku _not_ kiss Chi-Chi? Huh?'

'Because he's capable of it,' Vegeta hotly retorts.

From what Chi-Chi can tell, Vegeta seems really irritated about the fact. He sounds as though he would rather not be thinking about it, but he also feels compelled to get to the bottom of it.

'Vegeta, please! I've known Goku since he was a child,' Bulma tells him, 'and I'm sure there's no way that he doesn't kiss his wife.'

'Pft!' Vegeta scoffs with irritation. 'Bring that up, will you! Why do you always rub it in my face that you have known Kakarrot longer?'

'Maybe because I _love_ to see you react like that,' is Bulma's quick reply; it sounds provocative too.

'Pft!' Vegeta lets out another sound of irritation. 'It's _not_ funny!'

'Calm down,' Bulma responds in a drawly tease. 'I'll make it up to you once I finish this, I promise.'

In spite of her stagnating feelings at the moment, Chi-Chi manages to register that the tone of the conversation in that room, just shifted to something a little more personal than before. Although it's most likely the atmosphere in the room won't get extremely personal right away, as a wife, she knows that once a husband and wife change tones in conversation that way, and 'making up' promises are made, it's only a matter of sentences, before the tone of their actions change too. Bulma may just be asking for spanners now, but the change in what she asks for next, could be completely sudden, and if Chi-Chi is still outside their door, keeping her ears open, to hear more of that part on Goku, she'll be intruding, even without their knowledge.

Not wanting it to get to that point, she hastily shoves her emotions into a ball inside of her, and then just as hastily crosses the slightly open door, in flight. In her hurry away from where she just came, she passes at least two doors on her left, but still, she is not satisfied until she rounds a corner, to find the third door. Through that third door, is where she enters, feeling that it's thankfully far enough from the other couple. Only once she's inside that door, does she recollect her ball of emotions, and along with that recollection, her heart does what it did the first time that Vegeta's question reached her ears.

Goku doesn't kiss her? Really? What good reason would there have been, for him to say something like that? To Vegeta, of all people, even?

Wow, her heart beats exceedingly, she can't believe that Goku would say that to Vegeta.

Usually, she doesn't care what Goku's friends think of her, as long as Goku knows better than them, but _that_ is taking it a bit too far. What on possessed him to say something like that?

Placing both of her hands over her heart, she allows her thoughts to run around her head, with as much freedom and disorganisation as they will. It's that she feels that if she tries to piece herself together, it would be for naught, because she would just break apart from her thoughts all over again. Honestly, it feels to her like her mind is stuck in a rut, left without the capacity to think past the fact that her husband said something _so_ distasteful and untrue to Vegeta, that she doesn't even care about finding Goten that _much_ anymore. There's a mother somewhere inside of her, she knows and feels that, and _that_ mother would be continuing in her search for her son, no matter what, only, that mother inside of her, is being pressed under by the married woman inside of her, that feels various shades between thrown and betrayed.

Her emotions, separate from her thoughts, are another thing altogether, somewhat disloyal with how they are bouncing around from this to that; from wonder, to confusion, to fear, to sadness, to worn, and then to wonder again. All that bouncing around of her emotions, hold her stalled in the room, and like that, in that state of mind and emotion, is how Goku finds her.

She hears his footsteps come to a stop in the doorway, and she knows that it's him without looking up, because no one else would stand in the doorway for a while, not saying anything. Although a part of her would like to lift her head towards him, to set her tired countenance in his line of view, and that way, force him to see for himself what it is that he has done to her, the bigger part of her, wants to remain just as it is. There's comfort in familiarity, and since the bigger part of her is feeling in arrears of sorts, changing that would only be an unwelcome disturbance. And besides, Goku's only standing at the door, because he likes for her to _notice_ him, so that in his mind, he feels welcomed and wanted. Too bad for him, though, that this time she has no will to do make him feel wanted, when because of him, she feels _unwanted_.

'Here you are,' Goku casually decides to announce himself, when she doesn't give him the reaction that he expected.

There are certain engraved mannerisms and responses set inside the functioning of a wife, that automatically respond, when stimulated for a reaction. In this case, the fact that her husband spoke to her, more than what he actually said, reflexively has her looking up at him, before she has a full understanding of what she is really doing. She can't even mentally scold herself for responding that way (responding at all), because her mind hasn't yet caught up with her expertly trained body's response.

'We were looking for you,' he says to her.

Consciously, she can't think of this, because she still hasn't yet caught up on the automatic reality of being a wife in this moment, but darn it, her automatic reflexes respond to this new stimulus again, by being tricked into curiosity and asking him to explain what exactly he means by saying, 'we.'

'You and who?'

Shrugging, as though to say that he doesn't understand why she is asking that, he replies with, 'Me and Goten. We wanna go home.'

' _I_ was looking for Goten,' she defensively tells him.

Somehow, (and this can just be because she feels how she feels) hearing him answer her with that, particularly the last part, she feels accused of holding them up, while they went out of their way to find her. She wants it clear that she hasn't just been in here doing nothing, while they searched for her. She also wants him to know, that she had been looking for Goten all over the inner of Capsule Corp. until she discovered the most disturbing piece of news, which just recently led her in here.

'Oh, okay,' he accepts her word just like that. 'I'll call Goten, then.'

There he is, Chi-Chi studies her husband as he is, not even remotely aware of what he has done to her. He's completely himself, completely unaware, and simply ready to go home as if all is well in the world. Rationally, she doesn't blame him for being himself in a moment of unawareness, but still, she would like for him to notice that _she_ is _not_ herself. If not that, because he readily believes that she had been looking for Goten, he should, just as readily be attuned to recognising that it's not within her nature to lag around people's homes for more time than necessary, least of all at night. She would like for him to notice this about her, so that he can bring it up, and then she can tell him exactly why she had to take a breather in this room.

As she is looking at him, secretly waiting for him to get into her frame of reasoning, the outline of his form begins to flare with a softly yellow glow. A second after that, nothing extra needed, other than him just being there, the room's temperature changes along with the change of his hair colour. Where she's grown immune to his blonde hair and different coloured-eyes as per transformation, the heat that comes with each transformation, for the higher concentration of energy, still has to seep into her skin, so that she doesn't feel it as intensely when it happens.

'What are you doing?' she asks.

She wants to know, because his behaviour is confusing her. Really, after all that testing that Black put him through, he still feels the need to push his body further before it has had any rest? What else does he need to prove?

'I'm calling Goten,' he tells her. 'We agreed that we would call each other if we found you.'

'Oh,' she realises, adding a taut, 'Fine.'

Seemingly, something happens in either Goku's understanding, or his interpretation, because he pulls an expression that is both confused and questioning. The look that he gives her, is not one that she has seen coming from him very often; not how his eyes want to cross over the other's vision, and definitely not how his lips come together in a circle, only for him to pull his circle of lips to the side of his face.

'What's wrong with you?' he curiosity questions her.

Oh, how she's been waiting for that question from him...

It's only...

There seems to be something wrong with her.

Where she thought that as soon as he asked her what's wrong with her, she would have the answer ready for him, she feels something else. Actually, yes, she _does_ have the answer to his question ready for him, but her emotions that start to separate a little bit, that she suddenly can't decide if what's wrong with her, is that she would rather not have found out what she knows now, or if it's because she knows what he said, and her feelings are hurt. It turns out, that her internal indecision is making her unable to give him a response.

'You're tired and hungry, aren't you?' he answers himself, because she doesn't reply. 'It's just like you to spend these two nights worrying about me, and not worry about yourself. You need to eat and then rest, Chi-Chi. We should go home,' he states with caring concern.

Shaking her head to deny his claim, she says, 'I'm not hungry.'

Well… Truthfully, now that he brought it up, she _does_ remember that she needs to eat something. It's only that hunger and fatigue, aren't what's wrong with her. Those two things, she can deal with at a later time.

'Then what is it?' he asks, pulling another confused face, 'Because, you look funny.'

'I look _funny_ ,' she tightly responds, 'because _you_ told Vegeta that you don't kiss me!'

She hadn't planned on blurting it out like that; in that way, with that tone of speech, and with tightly pressed emotions. And yet, out came her unprepared confession, making Goku carefully look at her from the doorway. For a good while, where, if she wanted, she could reconcile her understanding with how she got here to this confession, Goku continues to look at her. He doesn't pull facial expressions as he did the last time, he only looks at her, until he apparently decides that he's found what he had been studying her for.

'What do you care what I tell Vegeta?' he finally asks, his eyes softly staring into hers.

If there is anyone eavesdropping on their conversation, much like she had done to Bulma and Vegeta, that person would most likely conclude that Goku, is an insensitive man, one who doesn't know how to speak to his wife in a polite way. She, of course, mostly through the soft look on his face, knows better enough to immediately understand that he doesn't mean his question in the way that it would sound to an outsider. _However_ , it irritates her to see and hear him acting this callously about a sensitive topic. It's like he doesn't even care to tell her that he didn't say such a thing to Vegeta, because he expects her to know that he wouldn't say something like that.

'I _care_ , Goku,' she passionately lets him know, feeling like she has defend herself from his expectation.

'But you've never cared before,' he reminds her, as if she needs a reminder of that. 'Vegeta never has any nice things to say about me, so you shouldn't care what _he_ says about me.'

'I don't care about that,' is her quickly reply to him, because about Vegeta and what his friends don't, or do say about them as a married couple, she really doesn't waste her caring energy on. 'But,' she begins to point out the difference here, 'you told him that you don't kiss me. Of all things, Goku, is _had_ to be _that_?'

Although she can't right away think of a list of things that he _could've_ said to Vegeta instead, that would've been better than what he said, she's sure that there _is_ something ridiculous, but still acceptable, that he could've said.

' _You_ know that I kiss you,' he reminds her again, as if she needs a reminder of that as well, 'so you shouldn't care. What's wrong with you anyway? You never care what my friends think of you.'

Wow…

She thinks that she actually feels stunned by his lack of understanding, that she can only stare at him, to try and see if there's something physically wrong with him, that's affecting his ability to reason. In her head, during the time that she simply stares at him, she starts to have the ideal conversation with him, where she is the one talking, and he is the one paying proper attention to the words coming out of her mouth, so that by the end of their conversation, he will see her point as she means for him to see it.

 _Saying that you don't kiss me, Goku,_ she starts her argument _, says that you don't find me desirable, and believe me, there are days when I feel very undesirable without your help. Saying that you don't kiss me,_ she continues _, says that because you don't kiss me, you kiss someone else instead, who is not your wife. Saying that you don't kiss me, Goku, says that we, a married couple, are not intimate with each other, and don't have that part of a relationship in our marriage._

 _Can you even understand the damage that there has to be in our marriage, for us to not be intimate with each other?_

 _Also, saying that you don't kiss me, says very clearly, that I am not kissable. Who knows, maybe you're saying that I have bad breath, which is an insult. Or maybe, you're saying that my lips are hard and chapped, nothing at all like the lips of a woman should be. You don't even realise that you saying that you don't kiss me, sets these irrationally stupid doubts within me, which by the way, is a hard thing to do, when we've been married this long, and having gone through as much as we have._

 _Do you understand all of that, Goku?_

Her inner monologue of a conversation concluded, with her still looking at her husband, she thinks of how she's not necessarily ending it on that note, to get an apology from him, it's simply that she wants him to know _how_ , and _why_ he went wrong, saying what he said to Vegeta.

'You see,' he argues by gesturing his hands towards her, taking her extended silence as proof. 'You know that I'm right. You don't care what my friends think of you, because _we_ know the truth. We always know the truth.'

But this man…

Really…

She wants to argue with him, she really wants to speak out and give him the inner monologue word for word, but clearly, he's not ready to see her point, and that being so, she doesn't want to waste her time. He clearly doesn't see his own error, and being as late as it is, she doesn't have the patience to work around that with him.

She does wonder, though, does he even _care_ to explain to her _why_ he said that to Vegeta? He doesn't appear to be thinking anything along those lines, at least, that's what she's reading from him. How can he really just not see the issue here? How can he not remember to diagnose the problem through her eyes, as he knows her to tend to think as his wife? Is he that caught up in it not being serious in his eyes, that he can't see further than that to her, it's not so much that he said it, but why he had to say it in the first place?

How did it even get to that point of him saying that? Had he and Vegeta been arguing, and he quickly jumped in to say that he doesn't kiss her? Or, had Vegeta been teasing him about kissing in general, that he quickly spoke to deny it? Or could it be, that they had been comparing their wives, and Goku felt that it would be funny to deny kissing his wife?

She continues to look at him, with all thoughts passing through her head, and she suddenly just feels that can't continue to talk about this with him anymore. Of course, she would like to talk about it, until it's solved, but she really just doesn't feel like it anymore.

'Whatever,' she decides to dismiss, and let it go. 'Let's just go home.'

As she already decided that she wouldn't carry on to speak with him about the matter anymore, she begins to take steps towards the door, so that she can leave. However, when she tries to get past him in the doorway, he fully blocks her way, also using his palms to signal her to stop.

'Chi-Chi come on, you _still_ look funny,' he says like the fact apparently bothers him. 'And you usually tell me what you mean, so I don't like this 'whatever' word of yours.'

Oh? he wants to go over the things that he _doesn't like_? All right, he did it, she thinks, he further pressed a button that he'd already been holding in with his attitude in, so she has no choice but to air her dislike as well.

'I don't like _you_ not taking me seriously either,' she rebuts while crossing her arms, 'but you aren't so, yes, _whatever_ , and let's go home.'

'I'm not going home with you like that,' he refuses. 'I'm not stupid, Chi-Chi, you'll be all nice to Goten, but with me, you'll be quiet and… You won't tell me what's bothering you, but you won't be mean to me either, and I don't like it when you get like that.'

Oh good, she snidely thinks, it's good that he conveniently knows when to choose to understand and interpret her, and when to forget that he knows her, to read her. And anyway, _that's_ what he's worried about the most? Soft passive-aggression from her, that he can't directly prove, because her actions will say that it's not like that, but his gut will convince him that she is not fine with him? He should be worried about who he will be kissing from now on.

'Okay, fine,' he seems to give in to her silent staring, 'just tell me, why does it bother you?'

'It just does,' she instantly cries in response. 'I listened to Bulma defending me to Vegeta, but you won't even take me seriously.'

That last fact, is more upsetting to her emotions, than what he said, because if her husband won't even see how his refusal to see how he went wrong is bothering her, then there's no useful benefit in Bulma's defence.

'I'm-' he starts, but someone else speaks with him, which causes him to cut off what he was going to say.

'I found you, Dad,' Goten's voice gladly announces, like they had been playing hide and seek.

Both of them, automatically turn their heads to look at the newly present son, although Goku quickly turns his head back to her, his expression strangely thoughtful. She can't be bothered to wonder if he is thinking of continuing their flopped conversation, but the one thing that she does know, is that she will do no such thing in front of Goten. He knows as well as she does, that there are certain things that they have agreed to keep their children from seeing.

'Hold on to me,' Goku says while he is looking at her. 'Both of you.'

Being as little as he is, Chi-Chi spies Goten slip in between them, to do as his father just said. His little hand raises up to Goku's thigh, and she, seeing this, places her hand on Goku's arm. A short time after she does that, she feels herself compressing only for the slightest second, and then suddenly, she's in another room. She knows that it's another room, because this one has a brighter light than the one where they just came from. Curious, she forces herself to look away from Goku, and rather look around to see where they have transmitted to.

All types of metallic things on the floor, meet her eyes first. Long tools here, small nuts and bolts there, loose springs in between, and some medium-sized electronic devices placed where they fit, clearly come into view for her. Bulma in light blue mechanic clothes, sitting cross-legged on the floor, and concentrating on something that's resting on her legs, while Vegeta stands close to her with his arms crossed, come into her view next, just as Vegeta lets out a surprised exclamation.

'Kakarrot!'

Although Bulma doesn't look up from her work, Chi-Chi sees her roll her eyes, before she says, 'You're making it a habit, Goku!'

'What?' Goku defensively questions. 'I already knew that you guys were okay,' he explains. 'I wouldn't have come here, you know.'

'Aren't we going home, Dad?' Goten asks, looking up at his parents.

'We are,' Goku assures him, 'but I just need to show your mom something first, okay, Goten?'

'Is it your new power?' Goten excitedly asks.

Softly laughing at Goten's shining excitement, Goku ruffles Goten's hair, and then only says, 'Maybe, but _you_ can't see it.'

As anyone who knows Goten would expect at this point, Goten perfectly on cue asks, 'Why not?'

'Your mom will kill me, that's why,' Goku tells him, which makes Goten look at her.

When Goten looks up at her, to confirm if what his father said is true, even though she's been present all this time, she feels like she has no part in this. She feels like she was suddenly drawn into a situation which she hadn't been prepared for, that, on top of coming from a situation where she really didn't resolve anything with Goku. There are still active feelings from the polite fight that she had with Goku, and now she is suddenly in a new setting, where she has to be an active participant? No, she's sorry, but she can't take part in something that she doesn't understand, and so she simply remains as she is, not giving Goten a response.

'Hey,' Goku gets Goten's attention to him. 'You'll have to close your eyes, just for a bit, okay?'

Probably because she didn't say that she wouldn't kill Goku, Goten nods to accept the instruction, and then closes his eyes, putting his hands over his eyes, which would be the perfect picture of obedience, except, he spreads his fingers wide apart. Like that, Chi-Chi clearly sees how his eyes open a little bit, to peek through the spaces between his fingers.

'Nice try, Goten,' Goku says the words that she had been thinking, 'but I think that I'll do this.'

This, Chi-Chi finds out as she watches their interaction, is Goku covering one of his hands over Goten's hands, for extra security. It's funny how he only needs one hand to effectively cover all of Goten's face, but gotten doesn't seem to think that it's funny. In fact, he finds it unfair, the way the visible parts of his face contract.

'Hey! Dad! I can't see!' Goten complains.

'You're not supposed to,' Chi-Chi automatically says, looking down before she can stop herself.

So much for not getting involved in something that she has no understanding of...

In her defence, though, while she doesn't know what Goku is doing, or why he's doing it, the part where Goten is given an order, but tries to be sneaky about it, brings the mother right out of her. She's not necessarily siding with Goku, especially since she doesn't know what his whole idea is, but being a parent, it's within her functioning to make sure that she communicates and teaches discipline to her child. Plus, her getting involved, effectively works on Goten, so...

She brings her eyes up back to Goku, only to be surprised by him using his free hand to wind around the back of her neck. The bigger surprise, is when he pulls her face towards him, while he moves his face to meet hers.

The very first breath that she takes, when she directly looks into his eyes to see what he's planning to do, and she realises that he's going to kiss her, speeds up her heartbeat. When he gently smiles as he leans his face to hers, she already knows what's coming, but instead of being prepared for it, she's rather just shocked, because… Uh, the last time, when her heart was still acting like its normal self, Bulma and Vegeta were right here in the room with them, and… And oh! Those are definitely his lips touching hers right now, right in this room with other people.

Incomprehension, confusion, shock, and delight, all sink into her heart at the same time, making it so that she feels partially suffocated and in need of taking in a clarifying breath.

The second breath that she tries to take, however, is dully drowned in the depth of his lips deeply digging into hers, like they want to be buried within hers. Strangely, it doesn't even feel like she needs to clarify anything anymore. Honestly, (and she is only thinking this, because she watched a piece of the show on television two mornings ago) like his lips are professional dancers performing a delicately sensitive piece of composition, they gently move against hers, not daring to make a mistake, and that way ruin the perfection of the choreography.

His kiss is deep, even without the silky use of his tongue inside her mouth. Just his lips softly playing on hers, creates a kiss with the depth of the ocean, and the gentleness of the innocent fondling of a baby.

She doesn't know how, but, there's something distinct about the unresolved tension that had been between them, that's making his kiss so much more exciting to experience, that she readily leans to melt her body into his. Although she doesn't kiss him back, she easily gives her entirety, not only her lips, over to being kissed by her husband.

His kiss is truth, his truth, that speaks the words that he would never think to speak to anyone else but her, in the privacy of just their own company, having nothing of impurities that are contrary lies.

Every lovely suction that his lips perform on hers, makes her the base of her stomach feel on the verge of lighting up in sparks, while the every-so-often swipe of the tip of his tongue on her lower lip, produces little delightful shivers all across her lower back. It's through his lip motions, that she loudly hears his true feelings for her.

His kiss, even as he stops it, removing his lips from hers, is the wind that her emotions needed, in order to disperse from being a jumbled mess, to leave her soul free, and clear of all doubts and questions.

Funny enough, she doesn't remember closing her eyes to enjoy his kiss, but now that he's pulling away from her, she doesn't want to open them. She gasps, which is her own way of telling him that he pleasantly took her by surprise, but her eyes, she refuses to open. She refuses, because she wants to stay like this forever, in the after-effect feeling of his kiss; hearing sweet melodies in her head, and breathing in fresh clean air, only slighted scented by a distant patch of land that accidentally caught water.

Had it not been for Goku's hand leaving her neck, to softly settle on her chin, had it not been for that soft communication that he wants her to look at him, she would've kept refusing to open her eyes, until she felt satisfied. If only she could have this moment for a while longer, though, she thinks to herself, before she has to open her eyes and give him her attention. She can't keep being in the moment forever, unfortunately, so she opens her eyes. Upon meeting her eyes with his, she pulls in a gasp of surprise, as though to say that only now, after kiss, she's being taken by surprise.

Though, to be fair, in a way, she is being taken by surprise as she looks at him, and his expression is one of the most patient that she has ever seen on him. The Goku that she knows, would've been turning a darker by now, knowing that he just kissed her in front of company, and yet he's patiently looking at her, like the people with them don't matter to him, only she does. Only then, once she's concluded it that way in her thoughts, does his behaviour in the other room where he'd found her, make sense to her. She can't believe that she didn't realise what his behaviour meant.

She's so stupid!

In her moment of distorted emotions, she fell into one of the more irritating flaws that she has. Just like that one time when Goku had fought the Saiyans who'd come to Earth, she immediately believed the one end of the situation, without hearing her husband's side too. And just like that time, Goku simply allowed her to treat him in the way that her emotions guided her to. Had she used her mind, she would've realised that in remaining adamant that she shouldn't care what Vegeta says, he was actually confessing that he didn't tell Vegeta, what Vegeta said he did. Had she also used her mind, she would've realised that his insistence, had been his own way of keeping his pride, in the fact that they know each other better than to believe what the people around them say.

She's really so stupid.

'I'm sorry for doubting you,' she immediately tries to rectify her mistake, using the softest tone to project that.

His response to that, is leaning into her again, but this time, his lifts his chin, for his lips to touch her forehead in a cool kiss. It's a fast kiss, one that is over too soon for her liking, but it's oddly the cure that she'd needed, and perfectly the best thing that she could've asked for.

'Just don't get used to it,' Goku softly tells her.

 _Oh, Goku_ , her heart wordlessly sings in a tune found probably only in heaven, while her eyes wait for his to meet hers again. She appreciates very much, that he didn't kiss her, to shut Vegeta up, or prove that she is kissable. Rather, it was simply for her to be firm in what they have, and not care what his friends report back to her, about him. It seems that Goku is satisfied with her reaction, because he looks between them, and then pulls his hand away from Goten's face

'Dad, can I look now?' Goten asks. 'I wanna see, I wanna see.'

'Sure, you can,' he answers Goten.

Goten quickly pulls his own hands away from his face, to look up at Goku and ask, 'What did you show Vegeta, Dad?'

'Something vulgar! I can't believe you came all the way here for that, Kakarrot!' Vegeta gruffly huffs, but neither she, nor Goku give him attention; this hadn't about him in the first place.

'Mom, what's vulgar?' Goten wants to know.

'It means something not appropriate for everyone to see, or hear,' is her amused answer.

'Okay,' he nods like he understands, only to ask, 'What's appro-po-piate?'

'She'll tell you later,' Goku quickly answers, 'because right now, we need to get home.'

He either wants to get home as soon as possible, or he simply wants to leave before he annoys Vegeta some more, but whichever it is, she doesn't mind. She doesn't mind him taking Goten's arm in his left hand, and her arm in his right, just before turning them around.

'Vegeta!' he salutes the other man with two fingers on his temple, facing Bulma to bid her goodbye too. 'Goodnight, Bulma.'

'Night!' Bulma replies. 'All of you.'

'Thank you, Bulma,' Chi-Chi says to her, not just for the wish, but for not doubting Goku like she and Vegeta had done.

* * *

 **Tenth,** Impressed Chi-Chi.


	10. Chapter 10

**Tenth,** Impressed Chi-Chi.

* * *

When she gets the call, he's right there in the sitting with her, lying on the couch. One of his arms, is lazily draped over his face, even though his eyes are fully closed, while the other, is leisurely hanging down the couch, just relaxing there as his body is doing on the couch. Dressed in nothing more than one of his most comfortable pair of underwear, he has reason to be like that exactly.

Anyway, when she gets the call, he doesn't care much to pay proper attention to the conversation. Besides her politely casual, 'Hallo' answer, he doesn't get much of whatever else she says into the phone. Lack of interest isn't really what he would describe his inattention as, it's just that he's in his underwear and socks, and being in his underwear means only one thing to him. Come the end of the phone call, though, he knows precisely what the call had been about it, because her soft hands are gently pushing on his body, urging him to remove his arm from his face, and give her attention.

He tiredly sighs.

Goten's teacher called, she tells him, and the teacher wants her to make time during the day, to go and see her. She says to him that he should go with her, obviously, but he wants to know why they should go right _this_ moment, when the teacher said that she could go at any time before the end of the school day. He goes on to remind her that Goten's school goes out at half past four in the afternoon, and that it's only twelve now. He's only reminding her of that, to emphasise that they still have time to get to the school, but she doesn't reply to his reminder.

He sighs again.

There's no way around Chi-Chi's final decision. If she's decided that they are going to the school now, then they are, and he is doing well in slowly getting up from the comfortable position on the couch, to follow her to wherever she's leading him. He's also doing well in not audibly complaining about it to her, because she wouldn't give that particular behaviour attention anyway.

Anyway, grumpily following her lead, it turns out to be the bathroom that she's leading him to, and learning that, he's immediately disheartened for two reasons. The first reason being, that he realises that he really has to give up the luxury of lounging around in his underwear all day, and the second being, that he's going to have to take a shower instead of a bath. One look at her waiting face, has him certain that around this one, there's also no way, not when she's already holding the shower curtain open for him. Well, he really has no choice now, than to pull his underwear off.

He dejectedly groans.

I'll join you in a second, she says to him as steps into the shower. That has him thinking, voicing aloud in fact, if wouldn't be better for the two of them to soak in the bath together, instead of standing under the spray of the shower water. He doesn't like the straightforward approach of the shower, he tells her, because there's no fun to be hand in there. He's trying to negotiate their clean up time, to something more fun, like playing a little around with the foam in the bath. She clearly replies that she doesn't want them to have fun, she just wants them to get cleaned up as soon as possible.

He groans again.

This won't be fun at all, least of all now that she's gotten out of her clothes, and is telling him to turn around in the shower. To make it to Goten's school on time, she reasons, she has to wash him up first, because she doesn't trust him with the little time that they have, and that grumpy expression on his face. And then, she continues to tell him, she has to wash herself up.

Oh well, he mentally shrugs, he doesn't mind Chi-Chi washing him, even if it's just for a short amount of time. He silently lets her touch him all over his body, her hands sliding so well with the lather of soap over his skin, and his body positively appreciating this hurried attention from his wife. A lazy smile dances around his lips, because he's nearly a little sorry that he didn't want to take a shower in the first place. Not entirely sorry, though, because in a bathtub, her hands' attention on him would've been more tasteful, way better than this. He would've preferred that, much more than this.

But this is nice too.

It only stops being nice, once she finishes cleaning him up, telling him to wait for her in their bedroom, while she works on herself. In his mind, it's not fair that he doesn't get to do to her, what she did to him, but what can he do? She's clearly taking this thing too seriously, that she doesn't want a second of a second to pass before they are safely at Goten's school, already talking to his teacher. The best that he can hope for, is getting to dry her off when she leaves the shower and meets him in their bedroom, and so, he stands in that hope, naked and waiting for her to make her entrance.

The waiting's not nice either.

Waiting for her to join him, allows his mind to wander back to the place where he'd been before all this. Before he took a shower, and before he had to stand here waiting for her. Back to when he'd simply been lounging on the couch in his underwear, planning to spend the day that way. Back to when he still didn't lose his lounging day, for an emergency meeting at Goten's school.

He doesn't know about other men, but when he takes a day off from his training, his farming, visiting his friends and generally anything else that requires his physical presence, just to be in his underwear at home, he literally _only_ wants to be in his underwear that day. Maybe other men don't do this, but when he picks a day to be in his underwear, _really_ , that's all he wants to do all day, nothing else. With this now, however, he has give up that planned day, for an important appearance at his son's school. He guesses that it could've been something that turned out to be bad.

This alternative is definitely better.

Even as Chi-Chi enters their room in a towel, heading straight for their cupboard to pick out an outfit for him, and he realises with slight disappointment that he won't get to dry her off, he still believes that this is the better alternative to losing his lounging day. She hasn't used the exact words to say so, but he knows that she is taking this meeting very seriously, because she's never been called for one before.

She's not showing her worry, though. In fact, the effortless way that she pulls out a complete outfit, right down to the socks and shoes, says that she is nothing related to worry, but he knows. He's her husband, he knows her, so of course, he knows. He knows about the pulse of worry that is constantly in her veins, and he sees the light grey colour of concern in her eyes, over the natural black of them. He can't always do much to ease her worry away from her, not in severe cases, but he's always found that distracting her a little, does a miraculous wonder to alleviate some worry from her veins.

'Am I wearing casual or formal?' he tactfully asks her.

It's just to steer her worry away for a bit, because clearly, she already took care of the responsibility of dressing him. An amused laugh comes from her, followed by her telling him that she knows exactly what his idea of casual looks like, and there is no way that she will let him leave the house like that. He sheepishly chuckles in response, agreeing with her that if she left it up to him, he would definitely put on the same orange and blue that he always wears. Not so, she fondly disagrees, because that uniform is his skin. It doesn't come off, she reminds him, making it his skin.

She's right.

He would much wear his normal orange and blue, compared to the blue jeans and the black long-sleeved velvety shirt, which she's handing to him. He even forgot that he has such clothes as a shirt that has to go with the top two buttons undone (since he won't be wearing a tie), be primly tucked inside his jeans, and then folded twice at the hems of either sleeve, and jeans that need securing to his waist, by a shining black belt. Evidently, despite having picked out the clothes for him, _she_ also forgot that he has such clothes as these, which fit him perfectly. He feels how his clothes are sticking to his body, but it's the way that she is looking at him attentively, her eyes thoroughly sweeping all over him, that let him know how she is wholeheartedly impressed with how he looks in his outfit. It's like her face is telling the story of how his clothes are just close enough to his skin, to not obscenely reveal the definition of his muscles, and how she's been taking his appearance for granted, simply because he is her husband.

'You have a great body, Honey,' she mentions appreciatively.

Her compliment, catches him off guard, only to toss him into the blushing zone, where he can do nothing to cover up his disturbed inner balance. He hadn't been expecting her to say that, but hmm, it sure feels wonderful to hear, especially when she looks at him like that. It's something special to know that he can impress her after all of the years that they have been married. Especially since he mostly only thinks of his body as strong, not appealing... Ug, now he's feeling too gooey inside. She could probably touch him with a finger, and he would simply dissolve under her touch.

But no, now's not the time to be melting.

Sure, he wants to bask in the affirmation of his wife, and allow her eyes to study him for as long as they will, but aargh, they have Goten's school to go to. He'll have to redirect the focus off himself. He knows, he'll ask what _she_ will wear to the meeting. That's a good distraction to take her alluring eyes off him. She hasn't made up her mind on what she's going to wear yet, is her answer. That's funny, he accidentally snorts. She has no problem dressing him, but she can't make up her mind on what _she_ should wear? Yes, she answers him. Whether to go for trousers and a shirt similar to his, or a dress, she can't decide on, because she doesn't know what _exactly_ the meeting is about. If other parents were given the same call that she was, also plays a role in what she chooses to wear, so she hasn't made up her mind yet. It doesn't matter, he assures her honestly, whatever she chooses to wear, she will look good in, he assures her.

* * *

 **26Chapters**

* * *

She had been keeping her worry under control from the time that she got the call at home. Although now that they are sitting inside a single office, waiting for the specific teacher to come and meet them, her worry is showing its face. More accurately, her worry sounds itself through her voice, causing her to quietly talk to herself, even though he is sitting right next to her.

She's not complaining at all, she's rather panicking that she hasn't been giving Goten a hundred percent, like she used to give Gohan, and her poor Goten is suffering for it. Of course, she mumbles to herself, she doesn't regret not pushing Goten to study more, and play less, but maybe she should've done more to be involved with his schooling. She's a little fidgety about her musings, not sitting completely still in her seat, that he feels it's quite important for him to remind her that Goten is a smart child, who couldn't possibly be doing badly in school.

She knows that.

She has nothing but trust that her baby is smart, she frantically whispers to him. Her worry, is that the teacher called her here, to caution her against not being overly involved with matters of the school where Goten is concerned. School conferences, being an active mother in the PTA and the like, she lists for him. Maybe those are things that are required of her, and she doesn't know, because she has confidence in the way that she raised Goten, enough to trust that he will be responsible at school, like she's always taught him to be. She should've put effort into Goten's schooling, shouldn't she?

What more does she think she should've done?

She doesn't know, she shrugs with a small worried smile, but she hopes that Goten is all right. Suddenly, her right hand clutches his bare wrist, expressing how she might just have it wrong. She's been too busy thinking about Goten's academic, that she's overlooked the possibility that something might have happened to him. No, he calmly says, placing a hand over hers, he can feel that Goten is fine, so she shouldn't worry herself like that. It's best that she just settles her thoughts, and quietly wait for the teacher to meet them. Look, he soothes, winding his arm around her and bringing her closer to him, she can even lean on him if that's what will help her.

She smiles appreciatively.

Leaning her head on his offered shoulder, he shifts a little out of his chair to eliminate the space between them, and just be close to her in every way. It's only a shame that the teacher chooses a few seconds after that, to make her appearance in the office, unfortunately pushing them with her presence, because now they have to present themselves decently and appropriately.

'Thank you both for coming,' the teacher smiles. 'I only expected Mrs. Son to be here, but this is all right too.'

The teacher holds out her hand for Chi-Chi first, and then his, holding on longer than he expected. She only shook Chi-Chi's hand, so why does she have to hold onto his hand like that. He looks exactly like Goten, the teacher tells him through a smile, and then only lets his hand go. When she takes a seat across them, he feels more comfortable to ask her what their being here means.

He's asking, because he wants to put Chi-Chi out of her worry. Now that she's not leaning into him, and he can't say much to distract her, he doesn't want to be sitting next to her, while worry chews on her. More than he doesn't like to see her in this carefully covered up state, he doesn't like to know that she's not at ease within, least of all being of her role as a mother. The mother role in her, is very different from the wife role, and where wife side knows how to _reason_ her worry away, her mother side really only is ever relieved by physical confirmation. In this case, seeing Goten will do.

'Can we see Goten?' he quickly poses to the teacher.

He's not trying to change the conversation before she has the chance to answer his previous question, he's simply opting to put his wife at ease.

'I was hoping that we could talk first,' the teacher says, looking from him to Chi-Chi.

'We really want to see him,' he insists for Chi-Chi's sake. 'Can we?'

'All right, Mr. and Mrs. Son,' the teacher agrees. 'We could talk along the way, I suppose.'

The teacher gets up from her chair before they do, setting the example for them to follow her, but when he gets up after her, Chi-Chi takes hold of his arm to stop him.

'Is Goten fine?' she wants to know, specifically asking the teacher.

'He's fine,' the teacher turns back to them. 'He's currently in class over at the B building, so will have quite a bit of walking to do, but he is fine, Mrs. Son.'

'Then why did you call us here?' Chi-Chi wonders.

He can understand his wife's concern towards Goten, so he doesn't do anything to steer her into simply accepting the teacher's words and obediently following her. It's the teacher herself, who politely shows them out of her office with her hand, to say that she will get to that, but only if they follow her out. Okay, Chi-Chi accepts, they will go with her.

'We have an evaluating child psychologist who has been coming in all week,' the teacher starts as they walk together, 'and her job is to help us pinpoint out the children who might need a little bit more attention, than we give them here at school. At times, as teachers, we get so focused on a class as a group, that we forget to look at our individual students, and the psychologist is here to help us out in that area.'

'Psychologist?' softly comes out of Chi-Chi's mouth, the single word speaking more of the spike in her concern, than anything else to him.

'Yes,' the teacher nods. 'The psychologist spends an amount of time with one class, and determines which children display odd behaviour that we don't catch as teachers. If we do happen to spot something in the children, we would otherwise easily say that the particular child is shy, or something else. Although, an experienced psychologist would more or less be able to tell the difference, through observing mannerisms and movements in a child.'

He wonders, is this why Chi-Chi chose this school? With services like that, how can she say that she hasn't dedicated enough of an investment into Goten's education?

'Anyhow, this psychologist made an observation about Goten, while they were out in the open for an exercise, that I simply had to call you, to know who his parents are.'

'Goten's a good boy,' he tells the teacher, because he won't let her believe otherwise.

Smiling at him, the teacher replies with, 'I have always been of that opinion, yes. But after today, I just had to know who his parents are. You see, an incident happened today, and he surprised me, that's all.'

Chi-Chi is the one who keenly asks, 'What did he do?'

'Well, most children,' the teacher begins to explain, 'as per their innocent nature, and as a way of learning the behaviour of the world, they inherently soak up the behaviour of the people who surround them at home. Whether they want to or not, children take in what they see in their home environments and will most likely apply that behaviour, when dealing with their peers. The psychologist believes that they don't consciously mean to follow in the behavioural footsteps of the people that are close to them, it just happens that way in manifestation.'

Will this woman get to what she means to say? He appreciates her will to lay everything out in detail, but the longer that she walks around what he and Chi-Chi want to know, the more worried she becomes. He has to get her to reveal her reason for calling them here.

'What do you want to say to us, Mrs?'

'I'll get to that,' she says, 'but let us get going towards Goten, don't you think?'

Silently, he and Chi-Chi look at each other, agreeing that they should stretch out their patience for a little bit more.

'Out of curiosity,' the teacher says, 'what are your occupations?'

'I'm a wife and a mother,' Chi-Chi quickly answers, 'and my husband is a martial artist.'

'Oh.'

She seems so surprised that she comes to an unexpected stop with her feet, turning their way to look at them. Again, he and Chi-Chi silently look at each other, this time to wonder what it is from the teacher now.

'I can see how you're a martial artist now,' the teacher remarks as her eyes roam over his body, before she brings them to meet his eyes. 'And that way, I can understand how Goten is such a disciplined one. You must enforce some of that martial arts discipline into him.'

Yeah… Uh… No, he doesn't do that. When it comes to training, maybe, yes, but in the everyday life, no. His idea of enforcing discipline, is telling Goten to listen to his mother, nothing majorly above that. Unless he absolutely has to, of course, but that rarely happens, so he doesn't count it as something valuable. However, now that they are on the subject of discipline, he remembers how the teacher just complimented Goten.

'So…' he pulls a confused face, 'Goten didn't do anything?' he wants to know.

'No,' she shakes her head. 'That is what I am getting to, Mr. Son. As I was saying, there had been an incident…'

While they walk on, she continues to tell them about a scene that happened between two children out in the open. Apparently, after realising that the two boys in his class were arguing and calling each other names, Goten took it upon himself to be the referee, and tell them that it's not nice to be angry with each other. According to the teacher, Goten told them to apologise to each other, and then he left them to be. When Goku looks at Chi-Chi to see what she thinks of this narration, he finds that just like him, she is not surprised by this revelation. He's personally not moved by it, because really, what else did the teacher expect Goten to do? She didn't seriously believe that Goten would ignore a bad situation, instead of trying to help, did she?

Anyhow, as not moved as they are, they don't say anything of a reply to the teacher, they only continue walking with her. Goten's response surprised him, the teacher tells them, because most children wouldn't have interfered at all. And what is more interesting, is that children are different, but she has seen countless children mimicking their parents, she says. She's heard swearing and using of bad language. She's heard shouting come from children. She's seen some of them attempt to do inappropriate things to others of the opposite sex, simply because they saw their parents doing something similar. She's also witnessed some completely shut off, when met by situations that disturb them. All in all, she starts to conclude, she is trying to point out that Goten is the product of what he sees at home, not only in his cheerful spirit, but also his amazingly gentle character, for someone so young.

'And that is why I called you, Mrs. Son,' she directs her stare at Chi-Chi. 'I couldn't hold my curiosity. I simply had to see you for myself, meet you in person, just to see who you are, and what you do, that you really have the time in _this_ age, to teach Goten such valuable lessons.'

'I'm sure that all mothers teach their children that being kind is important,' Chi-Chi meekly dismisses.

'But that's not it, Mrs. Son,' the teacher, mildly shaking her head. 'The thing that really warmed my heart, is what he did afterwards. We're here,' she inclines her head towards the door coming up. 'Goten is inside there.'

As he expected, Chi-Chi hurriedly crosses the last distance to the door ahead of them, to be the first one standing in the doorway, looking inside the classroom. Once he joins her, he fits himself into the remaining space in the doorway, so that he is side by side with his wife. There Goten is, he notices. Past the soft noise coming from the class, past the little heads of children busy with one artistic thing or another, he spots Goten putting blocks together by himself at his table. That puts a smile on his face, just seeing his boy, so he can only imagine how it makes Chi-Chi feel to see him like that.

'Mr. and Mrs. Son,' the teacher speaks from behind them, 'Goten took me by complete surprise with his maturity today. You see, later one, of the boys who was fighting, broke the toy of the other, and Goten saw that. I wouldn't have seen Goten getting upset, if the psychologist had not nudged me to look. I'll tell you both now, how I thought that Goten would march up to the boy who destroyed the other one's toy, but he only looked for the one with the broken toy. That one, poor thing, didn't cry or even complain at his broken toy, he simply picked up his toy and sat down where he was as if he is used to such behaviour. I felt bad for him, but then Goten went and sat next to him…'

He's so proud of Goten for going to help the one who couldn't help himself.

By the time that Goten sat next to this other boy, the teacher continues to tell them, she and the psychologist had also made their way closer to them, and that is how they could hear how Goten started comforting the other boy. Apparently, he told the boy that he has a friend, Trunks, who is always breaking his toys, but his parents always get him new ones anyway, so Trunks isn't really thankful of what he gets from his mom.

The teacher says that Goten pointed out, how the boy who broke the toy, is probably like his friend Trunks, and he isn't thankful of what his parents give him either. He must think that everyone's parents can buy them new toys all the time, Goten apparently carried on to comfort the other boy. Goten himself told this other boy, that he doesn't have many toys, but the ones that his mother buys for him, he loves very much. He also apparently revealed to the other boy, that he doesn't really play with his toys too much, because he's afraid to break them, and his mother will think that he doesn't value what she gives him. But if he wants, Goten can ask his mom if he can give one toy to the other boy.

That melted the teacher's heart.

'I just wanted to commend you both, on what you teach your son at home,' the teacher finishes. 'Whatever you both are doing, keep doing it.'

What they both are doing? No, that's all Chi-Chi's work that they are looking at. Yes, his hair and his face are on the boy, but only Chi-Chi is inside that boy. She taught him what's right, and Goten took it in, because he loves his mother. He, as a father, is not always around, and that can't be a positive influence on the child. The teacher can say that they should keep doing whatever they are doing, but she doesn't know the truth.

Only Chi-Chi does.

He looks to his side, to his wife, wishing that she would correct the teacher, but he finds that she is too concentrated on looking at Goten. There are tears in her eyes, and her left hand is over her throat, however, it's the deeply amazed expression on his face that has his thoughts completely redirecting. It's almost like that look from before in their bedroom, he acknowledges. That impressed look, but not in the way of positive recognition, rather, in the way of invokinvg emotional depth. Actually seeing her looking so invested in admiring their son from a distance, without words, causes one of his hands to start reaching for her, only to stop before it fully touches her.

She looks so beautiful.

His little and next finger, barely touch her arm, but the other three fingers remain in the air. His mid action is not as royally glorious as Chi-Chi's impressed expression, it's really just a clumsy thing, that would otherwise be pointless, if it wasn't meant to be completed. It's like he is seeing her for the first time today, and the awe in him is just that deep, that he has to pause time to wonder about her.

Why is she impressed? He doesn't understand that about her. She looks extremely beautiful, but why is she impressed by Goten's response? Doesn't she know what she's truly worth in this family? Just now, the teacher approved of them to keep doing what they have been doing with Goten, and she doesn't realise that she's done such a good job at filling Goten's life, enough to not feel deprived in either parenthood or affection? Can't she remember her other son, Gohan and how he's turned out to be a respectable young man, that she's surprised at how Goten is perfectly mature to discern things? How can she be so oblivious to her talent, that she's completely more attractive and beautiful to him?

'Chi-Chi you...' he tries to say, but the rest of the sentence doesn't come out.

'I miss my Goten,' she emotionally replies.

She misunderstood, he realises. She took his incomplete sentence to mean that he asked her a question, when really, he simply couldn't make the rest of what he wanted to say, come out of his mouth. But, there's such a verbal imprint in her tone, one that can't be equally matched to the impressed and breathtaking look on her face, that it feels to him like she sees a whole land of obstacles keeping Goten away from her.

'He's right there,' he softly assures her, without taking his eyes off her.

She needs to know that Goten is within her reach, except, when a smile not made of mirth, but of something between polite dismissal and exemption from comprehension, appears on her face, and she radiates even more beautifully to him, something happens to him. Suddenly, he just has to touch her. Suddenly, his hand just aches to complete its journey to her arm. Suddenly, his arms tingle to take her into them, and keep her there for several eternities. Suddenly, he realises that he misses her. And then only, does he realise that his comment about Goten being right in front of her, doesn't mean that she can't miss him.

Feelings and motions, he realises, are gods with extreme power over people.

* * *

 **Eleventh,** Conspiring Chi-Chi.


	11. Chapter 11

**Eleventh,** Conspiring Chi-Chi.

* * *

Goku doesn't know why Vegeta promised Lord Beerus that he'd serve him a steak with 'Granny's Secret Sauce' on it, but he sure isn't complaining about it. He's not curious about it either, to be completely honest, because there's nothing more that could he want at the moment, than the perfect end, following a satisfying occurrence – well, almost completely satisfying, because it was cut short by the uninvited spectators, who showed up. But never mind that. He doesn't even know if he should be here, finishing his third portion of steak along with Lord Beerus and Whis especially, but oh well, he is. And he is enjoying it!

'Hmm!' he throatily vocalises, waiting a short fraction of a second to swallow the last bit of meat, before he completes with, 'This is so good! Thanks, Vegeta.'

While in response, Vegeta makes an irritated, but dismissive sound, and then turns his head the other way, Goku gladly reaches for another piece of steak. He invited himself to have this meal, and he plans on eating as much of it, as he can. Before his fingers can claim the piece of meat, however, a sharp smack meets the back of his hand, to possibly make his entire hand reconsider its decision to get a fourth portion of steak. Taken aback by the sudden attack on his hand for no reason, he gathers a confused frown to appear on his face, as he just then looks up from the tray filled with steak, to find the person responsible for keeping him from his fourth piece.

'Hey…' he starts to complain, not really bothering to find out who it is, that smacked his hand.

'What?!' Lord Beerus hotly retorts, verbally defending himself against the attack, and that way directing Goku's attention to him.

'Why did you do that?' he seriously asks the god.

'Because you're eating too much! You've already had three pieces of steak,' Lord Beerus stubbornly answers him.

That's not fair, Goku thinks. Looking at the filled tray, there's no need for Lord Beerus to keep anyone from eating more steak. And since it's only him, Lord Beerus and Whis who are eating, while the others are silently seated at the table with them, Lord Beerus doesn't need to be stingy about the meat.

' _You_ also already had six pieces,' Goku reminds him, begrudgingly leaning back in his chair.

First chewing down his last bite of his steak, Lord Beerus proudly boasts in his god status, as the perfect reason to get away with whatever he feels fit to do, saying, 'I _am_ a god. I can have as many as I want.'

Frowning, Goku argues against that with, 'That's not a good reason!'

'It is!' Lord Beerus argues back. 'And besides, Vegeta made _me_ the promise of steak, so I'm entitled to more.'

That's true, Goku silently acknowledges, but he doesn't lose his frown just because it's true. In fact, against his will, he feels too much like he's Goten, who is being pushed to do something by Chi-Chi, just being she's the mother, and he's the son. He crosses his arms instead, to properly accuse Lord Beerus in a sulking tone.

'You're just being stingy!'

'Goku's right, my Lord,' Whis casually floats into the conversation, as though he had been part of it from the beginning. 'You _are_ being stingy. Consider how if it hadn't been Goku contracting Hit to kill him, Vegeta wouldn't have had to bargain with me for the same training. Hm, Lord Beerus?'

In a flash, Goku adjusts his eyes to the one sitting next to Lord Beerus. He finds Whis finishing his explanation to Lord Beerus with a soft chuckle, and partly closed eyes, his look almost saying that he's simply interested in keeping the silent peace that he needs to keep enjoying his steak.

 _Thank you, Whis_. _You're the best_ , Goku silently thanks his trainer, his eyes growing bigger in admiration for the soft teacher.

As he watches Whis, his heart silently dancing in thankfulness that Whis took his side, he observes how Whis is solely trying to eat. He has his hand with a fork, ready to dig into a cut off chunk of steak on his plate, so he shouldn't be subjected to the possibility of developing a distaste for his meal, all for something silly. Because he can understand Whis when it comes to the particular subject of food, he begins to open his mouth to say that he'll stop fighting with Lord Beerus, but a trembling sound of stressed syllables stops him from getting his words out.

'Goku _hired_ Hit to kill him?'

That voice… _Uh-oh!_

Like water left in the fridge for far too long, his entire body freezes with a special type of chilled frigidness. Except for his head, of course, which (as a primary instinct that defies all degrees of numbness) automatically turns to look at his wife, who is sitting all the way at the one end of the table. Instantly, their respective eyes meet, and where his pupils dilate in numbing shock, hers dangerously flare at him with angry flames.

 _Double uh-oh!_

A stare that deep, with such intensity, directed solely at him, for consumption, should melt all of his frozen body to a useless puddle on the floor. It _should_ do that, in fact, he wholeheartedly wishes on his life that it would happen that way, thus giving him a justified escape, but no, her stare doesn't do that. What it does do to him, is mercilessly burn into his skin without physically breaking him apart, only, inside where her flaming stare penetrates to…

 _Chi-Chi_ … _Honey_ …

The names effortlessly come together in his mind, but when he tries to speak them out through his mouth, his brain decides then, to send the command for the saliva in his mouth, to make a run for it down his throat, and that way be safe from the fiery fury of the woman staring at him. His escaped saliva, then leaves his mouth feeling completely dry to try and open, much less make an attempt to say something to save himself.

'He did,' Whis' voice casually wafts through the air again. 'You had believed it was Frost, hadn't you, Goku's wife?'

 _Whis!_

So badly, as the desperate cry sounds in his head, he wants to sharply turn his head towards Whis, and warn him to keep his mouth properly closed, or better yet, keep his mouth occupied with chewing on his steak, however, his frozen body doesn't pay any tiny attention to his wants. Rather, his instincts win the control over his body, keeping him in place, to only observe the reception of the news by his wife, as that's the only thing that matters in the whole world right now. His mind can freely think that Whis went from saving him from Lord Beerus' stinginess, to betraying him in a sweet sacrifice to his wife, but his eyes, oh his eyes can _only_ remain on his wife. _Whis, though_! He still stubbornly wants to face Whis and give him the same stare of fire that he is receiving from Chi-Chi, because thanks to him, now she _knows_.

She now knows that he is responsible for Hit coming after him, and she knows that he purposely left Gohan's, knowing very well of the possibility of his _death_. It's not like before, when she got Piccolo to tell her what happened to him, because now, she knows most of the truth, and her eyes… Her eyes loudly speak of the single emotion which she feels, only, it's spoken in resounding echoes, that he is completely petrified of what will become of him.

'Your silence suggests that I am correct, doesn't it?' Whis' nonchalant voice drifts through the air again. 'Can I also assume that you didn't know about his death tonight, then?'

That darn Whis! _Can he just keep eating instead of talking_?

What does he think he is doing? Doesn't he realise the resolute silence at the table means something significantly sensitive? Is he maybe drunk on steak, that he's just absently using dangerous information as topics for conversation attempts? Really, only Whis is capable of saying something so serious, so casually, with such abandoned crass.

'No,' Chi-Chi shakily lets out, her eyes still focused with unshakable determination on him. 'I didn't know that _either_.'

That quietly rumbling tone… That subtly ablaze pronunciation…

 _Okay_ , _now he's just dead_. _This act of inhalation, is definitely his last breath on Earth_ , _and he better cherish it._

In that certain mindset, he instinctively closes his eyes to say his last prayer, in the weakly defeated state that he's in. A prayer won't save him, he knows that, obviously he knows that, but he still wants to say it, if only to show some hurried appreciation for the full life that he's lived up until now. He never would've imagined that coming here for steak, would lead to his final death.

To face his death like a strong man, he opens his eyes, to look at his wife one last time.

Although he still finds the same fire staring at him from his wife's eyes, there's something strangely silent about her surrounding aura. The way that he knows her, he can immediately pick up on the difference. She's fuming, yes, beyond angry, yes, however, he can somehow understand that she won't scream at him to death at all. At least, not right now. He should be glad about that, especially when she finally averts her eyes away from him, with no sign of her ever returning them to him again, but he just…

He doesn't trust that. That can't really be the end of it, can it?

* * *

 **26Chapters**

* * *

Oddly, he's this close to making it through a fourth piece of steak.

Lord Beerus doesn't bother him about reaching for that piece, and Whis, as if he didn't create a seriously gaping hole in what had been a well rounded circle of perfection, simply continues to eat in silence. Goku wonders why he hadn't thought to do that all through the time that he decided he needed to be Chi-Chi's informant. But on second thought, when Goku remembers that his wife got it out of _Piccolo_ , how Hit had attacked him, he can't really blame Whis for speaking as he did. But still, Whis shouldn't have said anything.

Although he finds it odd that he's able to nearly finish a whole piece of steak, he isn't surprised by _how_ he has difficulty making it through that same piece of steak. He had hoped with all of his heart that a fourth piece would steer his mind away from the fact that Chi-Chi unclenched her angry fists on the table, looked away from him, and soon after got up from the table, only to have difficulty with it. If anything accurate, the steak plays with him, suddenly switching to a bitter taste on his tongue, and then struggling to fit down his throat, as he attempts to push it down to his stomach.

Still, though, he wouldn't consider himself a fighter, if he gave up like that, before swallowing down the last fibre of meat. With that in mind, he continues his physical battle of eating a bitter steak, and forcing it down, piece by piece, to his stomach. One part of him continuing, is mostly to buy himself time to prepare a decent response for Chi-Chi once she decides to bring up what she knows, and the other part, is simply fear that once he stops eating, Chi-Chi will pounce on him, and he will wish he never existed.

As he eats, one by one, everyone excuses themselves from the table. Vegeta first, and then Bulma, then Piccolo, followed by Goten and Chi-Chi, and lastly, Whis and Lord Beerus. They all leave him at the table. Well, him, his peanut-sized piece of meat, and his thoughts of fear all remain at the table. If he puts that small piece into his mouth, and then suffers through its bitter taste, to then forcefully swallow it, he'll only be left with the burning image of Chi-Chi's glare of death, and that…

Oh man, what is he going to do?

He can stall finishing his meal for a while, but in the end, he still has to go home. No one else after Whis brought up the subject of Hit, or the fact that Chi-Chi now knows the truth, but she still knows that truth, and nothing will get him out of that. He will admit something, though, that this is a _first_ for Chi-Chi, to react like that. For her to seem like the world is exploding inside her eyes, and then just be clear of that explosion, is a definite first. And a _definite_ , absolute cause for unrivalled fear.

Oh, man…

He won't make it through this night, whether he finishes his meal or not. Either the fearful anguish will finish him, or his wife will, so there's no point in postponing the inevitable… Just as he thought that he can't call himself a fighter if he didn't eat up to the very last of his meat, he tells himself now, that if he doesn't get up to face his wife, he'd be a cowardly fighter, who couldn't face his defeat with dignity.

He'll find her, he quickly decides, simultaneously shoving the single piece of meat into his mouth as he pushes out of his chair. By the time that he heavily takes down his final bite, he's already four or five steps away from the table, and on his way to finding his wife, to face the consequences of his decision. Even though he is in no way prepared to face the consequences, he walks in big demanding steps to find her, until after some time, he catches sight of her in the back area, talking to Whis.

No way!

His heart immediately catches fire.

Whis, he doesn't trust. Not tonight. And definitely not with Chi-Chi.

To not waste time, and give Whis more time to tell Chi-Chi things that he's not supposed to, he quickly goes over to them, coming to a stop right next to Whis. He would usually stand on the side Chi-Chi is, but since he doesn't know what more she knows at this point, he's safer a little step away from her.

'Do I have to pay for it?' Chi-Chi asks Whis as he finds his landing next to Whis.

'How cheap!' Lord Beerus objects before Whis can answer.

Because he hadn't noticed Lord Beerus on the other side of Whis, Goku looks around Whis, doing it just in time to catch Lord Beerus turning his face the other way from Chi-Chi. He wonders what that is about, only, Whis' quiet response turns his attention back from Lord Beerus.

'Please, Lord Beerus, don't be rude. Her circumstances are different.'

Putting aside what happened earlier, Goku silently appreciates how Whis has this way of defending innocent people against Lord Beerus, while respecting Lord Beerus in the same breath, that is completely unattainable to the normal human. Goku like that about Whis. Now more than ever, because whatever it is that is going on, Whis is standing up for Chi-Chi, in a way that is respectfully telling Lord Beerus to behave himself.

'What's going on?' he tentatively joins the conversation.

He's taking a chance. Butting into their conversation like this, when he is already on borrowed living time, he's taking a chance. He knows this, as she could very well explode with all the content that has been boiling within her up to now, but he would rather _that_ , than her acting like she didn't hear what Whis announced to her. In fact, if he is being honest, he _wants_ her to go off on him, he wants her to be _familiar_ in _that sense_ , and make him feel like he is not going to survive tonight. He _needs_ that from her, because this voice of _silence_ , and her _inaction_ towards the fact that _he_ , Goku, hired Hit to kill him, and then he actually died, is wildly feeding his fear to obesity. He _needs_ to provoke a reaction from her, using any tiny thing.

'If you must know,' she is the one to answer him, although her eyes remain on Whis, 'I'm arranging something with Whis. Whis, I was asking if I have to pay for it?'

Chuckling as is like him to do, Whis politely says, 'No. Consider it a favour, as I am quite honestly intrigued by _your_ method.'

What? What are they talking about? Her method? What method?

Firstly (properly studying Chi-Chi's face for any hint), he doesn't trust the fact that she mentioned anything about Hit until now, and secondly (he looks at Whis, hoping to get a clue from him as well), he just doesn't trust Whis tonight. So when he adds her and Whis together, the result is double mistrust, or more accurately, immovable suspicion.

'What-' he starts to ask, when Chi-Chi speaks at the same time.

'Thank you, Whis,' she says, sounding genuinely thankful, and then turns to him to say, 'We can go home now, Honey.'

That… That last part dedicated to him, she said that too normally, like she's back to her normal self, like she's not angry, and like she doesn't remember what happened with him and Hit. He just can't trust that… Especially not when she talked methods and payments with Whis. Come to think of it, he'd hired Hit to kill him, offering an amount of money… What if…?

Oh no! She's not…? She's not asking Whis to beat him up, _is_ she? He'd understand if that's what she's doing, of course, but he doesn't want Whis to beat him up.

'But, what were you talking about with Whis?' he wonders.

He really just needs to confirm that he will not be receiving a beating from Whis. At the moment, it's no longer about provoking a reaction from her, it's only about preserving his dignity as a fighter, because the humiliation that he will suffer from a one-sided fight with Whis, is something that he doesn't want to experience. Ever.

'Nothing that you should be concerned about tonight,' she tells him. 'We need to get going home, anyway.'

There it is again, that normal way of speaking from before. And still, he doesn't trust it, it's only that if he continues to prod, asking her about this arrangement with Whis, he might just find himself sleeping at King Kai's tonight. He has to let it go. Whether he trusts Chi-Chi's behaviour or not, he needs to go with what she wants.

* * *

 **26Chapters**

* * *

At a point that night at Bulma's, he'd been craving for an outburst from her, wholeheartedly wishing that she would drop the act of the news not affecting her, only for him to later change his mind on trying to provoke a reaction from her, when he saw that she had no interest in bringing his crime up between him. Since then, he's made sure to keep walking in that line, of not bringing up the incident himself, if she didn't do it first.

Today being the sixth, five days _exactly_ have gone by since that night when Whis gave his secret away, and _nothing_ , absolutely nothing, has happened yet. Because of that, he's been living each day, with precise discipline, also being completely dedicated to behaving carefully, so as to not do anything to annoy her. Although she hasn't brought up anything about the hit on his life, or the fact that he died as a result of that, he has been restraining himself in ways that shouldn't be allowed him in his own home.

But man, the amount of miserable pressure, extraordinary discipline, and self-denial it takes to not feel at home in his own home… That's no joke. It's terrible.

He's had to train himself, to pretend that he is on King Kai's planet, and not actually in a house with his wife, _where_ he has free access to whatever things he wants, particularly where his wife is concerned. Not for anything, has he made skin contact with her. Not even when they sleep, does he allow his toes to touch _any_ part of her. Actually, he's been doing a lot of things, that he otherwise wouldn't bother to.

Like tiptoeing on his nerves, just expecting her to explode at any time.

Like being selective of the things that he says.

Like helping out where he can, without getting in her way.

Like religiously going home for lunch each and every afternoon since that night.

On this sixth afternoon, as on the previous days, without fail, prepares to transmit to his house, focusing on Chi-Chi's energy. The thing that stops him from leaving the field at once, is how weak her energy signal is. It's never like that, he thinks, developing a small, slightly worried frown. The reasonable side of him, says to him that she might just be sleeping, hence her weak energy, but the on-edge side of him that has been leading him all these days, immediately assumes that she's finally reached the point that she's been avoiding.

Today's the day, then, he prepares himself. If her energy is anything to go by, she's most probably doing a mental preparation, and thus relaxing her body, for it to be fully charged when he gets home for lunch. Led by that thought, he takes a final preparing breath, before fully focusing on her energy again, and leaving towards that. The image that meets him when he appears where his technique led him, though, is nothing like he is used to seeing.

This _isn't_ his home.

This is the remainder of a disaster that hit his home.

In urgency, his eyes run all around the area, looking to find the familiar picture of his comfortable house. His eyes only continue to see a mess, though, no matter which way, which side, and which angle they look at, they only see the mess of a broken down house; rubble, in truth, as though someone specifically made an attack to break his house down.

 _Hit!_ His mind instantly goes to that one man, who made the promise to finish his assassination in his own time, while his heart erratically jumps away from him, to _Chi-Chi!_

How stupid of him! He thought that she had been sleeping, but now that he's here, seeing the actual picture of reality, he should've known that something was wrong. He can't waste time. _Immediately_ , he has to find her! Since he can still trace her weak energy, she must be buried somewhere beneath this rubble. He doesn't want to think of it as true, but that being the case, it means that she is still somewhere underneath the broken house.

As much he doesn't want to think of her being buried under all of this mess surrounding him, he unfortunately doesn't have time to spare for worrying if she is okay either. In his subconscious state, he's thinking it, entertaining it, even, but overall, as he begins to pick up broken brick by broken brick, he doesn't have the grace of time to fully connect to _that_ worry. What's more important to him, is actually finding her, pulling her out of it, hurriedly taking off with her, making a brief stop at Korin's for some senzu beans, and then dutifully taking her to Dende, for proper healing.

'Chi-Chi!' he screams for her, while throwing obstacles of concrete that are hiding her from him, as far away as possible.

He can't afford to throw the broken stones somewhere on the existing rubble, in the case that he accidentally piles a much bigger load of hurt onto his already buried wife. As he picks up the broken bricks in a wild frenzy, determined only to discover any part of her pale skin, or the colour of her clothes, he automatically tosses them afar, until finally, one of the broken bricks in his hand, reveals Chi-Chi's hand.

'Chi-Chi,' he lets out the relieved exclamation of surprise.

Just like that, he forgets to throw the brick away. Instead, it mechanically falls out of his hand, dropping down, to land just a breath from his foot, and leave his hand free. His now free hand joins his other in hurriedly moving to pull his wife from under the damage, and straight into his shaking arms. He's not sure if he hurt her in the process of pulling her up, he only knows that her body's limp in his hold, that even trying to cradle her is hard.

Softly, he tries to get her attention by saying, 'Hey…'

By all that is important in the world, when his soft request doesn't alter the situation, even by a breath, he gets the strongest urge to shake her. He really just wants to shake her, because this isn't how he knows her as. Her body is so close to being lifeless. And her eyes are closed. This doesn't look like his wife. Just like the rubble where he is standing on, doesn't look like his home, this woman in his arms doesn't look like his wife. This looks like someone close to dying.

'Hey, hey, hey, Chi-Chi,' he urgently gets out, barely managing to keep himself from shaking her.

He's aware that he shouldn't just be standing here like this, rather than moving on with his plan as he intended, but seeing her like this in his arms, the majority of his muscles _just_ lose strength.

'Stay, Chi-Chi,' he begs in a weak whisper.

She can't… She shouldn't leave this world. No, she can't leave this world. It's not right for her to leave this world. She needs to stay, because… She just needs to, and although he doesn't want to hurt her any more than she already is, he uses his closest hand to squeeze her side. He's silently urging her to keep holding on, and that she shouldn't give up yet.

Shortly following his squeeze, her eyes snap open.

His initial reaction, is to panic that he hurt her by doing that to her side, and she's now protesting against it. When she blinks after opening her eyes, though, his mind registers that hey, she's awake, not unconscious anymore, and his mind travels from the reaction of panic, to relief. Enthusiastically, he crushes her to him without care, her name getting lost on his tongue in the momentum of his euphoria.

'Let go of me.'

He hears the flatly serious tone, and even that it's Chi-Chi saying it to him, but he doesn't follow the instruction. He's too happy to have her back, with her eyes open (a sure sign that she will be okay), to suddenly stop smothering her into him like he is doing. Actually, in the back of his mind, he takes her request to be a sign of exhaustion from the whole thing that happened, which is partly why he doesn't care to let her go.

Right now, in this immediate of state of consciousness, she hasn't really begin to come to terms with what happened to her, and he understands that, but she has _no_ idea what it was like for him to come home, only to find it in shambles. She can't begin to imagine what a scare it was for him to find everything broken down, and her buried underneath the entire mess, and so he won't let her go. Not until he's had his fill of relief, and until he's seeped some of the life inside of her, into his being, for cemented certainty.

'Goku,' she says again, 'let go of me.'

Aww, he mentally protests, he doesn't want to let her go. He wants to keep her pasted on him, to the point where she's literally one being with him. Can't he just have that?

'I said, let go now, Goku,' she says louder than the last time.

She must have raised her voice, to counter the way that he held her tighter when she asked him to release her, and had it not for her doing that, he wouldn't have let her go. Well, he doesn't exactly let her go, really. What he does, is slightly pull her out of his embrace, to keep having her close, because after almost losing her, after worrying that he was going to lose her, he can't just allow her out of his hold like that. He'd be a fool to.

Unfortunately, since she has her own strength, and _usually_ knows how to detach herself from him if she wants to, when he's refusing to let her go, she does just that. Not carefully, she removes herself from his hold, to stand on her feet a step away from him. Truthfully, he's hurt by her insensitivity, although he doesn't entirely blame her for wanting breathing space. He would've liked for her to stay just a little longer in his hold, but now she's just standing there, looking at him with a passive expression.

Unable to resist, he warmly smiles at her from a joint place of relief and love. He's not showing it, but really, she really has no idea how glad he is that she's okay. The sour image of her under the rubble, still active in his mind, but seeing her in front of him, lessens the glaring visibility of that image. Not even the dust spots on her clothes and parts of her face, can fully take him back to that place. She's here, standing on her own two feet, and-

'Whis!' comes out of her mouth all of a sudden.

Whis?

He's confused. Her eyes are directly set on his, and he's pretty sure that she's talking to him, but _he's_ not Whis. Just a little bit, he's confused.

'It's me, Goku,' he says to her, pointing to his face, and doing his best to sound patient, rather than confused.

It may be that she's suffering from aftershock, or something, so he has to talk to her in the nicest way possible. It could also be that she thought another man, not her husband, held her in his arms, which is why she said to let her go- But wait, no, she specifically said _his_ name, so what is this Whis name that she's calling?

'You called?' a fluently smooth voice suddenly sounds next to him, making him snap his head in that direction.

'Whis?'

Confused, he looks from the man whose name he just blurted, to Chi-Chi. Not blinking, Chi-Chi looks away from him, to instead have her eyes on Whis.

'You can restore my home to its usual state now, please,' she says to Whis.

'Right away,' Whis answers. 'However… You'll want to move away from here, please.'

Huh?

Again, Goku looks from Whis to Chi-Chi, and then back to Whis. He's still confused, because he's clearly here with these two, and yet, he's not here with them at all. It seems that they are on their own planet, speaking a language that he has never heard of in his life, and excluding him as if he's not even here.

'Wait…' he tries to say to Whis, as Chi-Chi is already starting to walk away from the destroyed house.

Politely, Whis spares him a look, if only to say, 'Goku, please stand back from here. It will be rather irking to rework the house around you. I can do it, of course, I simply prefer _not_ to.'

Even though he wants to (in some minor way), he can't argue with Whis, because _what_? Really, just, what? How stupid is he right now, that he doesn't know what is going on here? Nonetheless, he does as he is told, walking over to join Chi-Chi. Once he joins her, he sets his attention on her, preparing to ask her to tell him what's happening, but he finds that her eyes are straight ahead, on Whis. While she keeps her eyes on Whis, waiting, he keeps his eyes on her, waiting as well.

'All done,' Whis announces at last.

His announcement perks visibly Chi-Chi up, intriguing Goku to shift his sight from her, to Whis. He doesn't know one thing about Whis being here, or if he's been here all along, he only knows that whatever 'all done,' means, he wants to find out.

'Chi-Chi, what is Whis doing here?'

'He came to fix the damage, which he caused,' she answers, not missing a beat, or looking at him.

He will silently acknowledge that he is still confused, and that being so, he most probably just misinterpreted what Chi-Chi said to him, but he has to ask.

'Whis did that to you, and to our house?'

It's much worse to say the words in the form of a question, than it is to think it, except, he has to make sure that he and Chi-Chi are on the same plane of understanding. As he's thinking this, he carefully looks at Whis, wondering _why_ Whis would do that, _if_ he really did that.

'Yes,' Chi-Chi replies. 'He did. I asked him to.'

Okay, so he didn't misinterpret Chi-Chi that first time, but what's this about her asking Whis to destroy their house? He can't have heard that correctly, can he? Because that wouldn't make sense, especially considering how much Chi-Chi loves their house. She would never do something like that. He needs to make sure that she really said what he thinks he heard her say.

'You?'

'Yes, me,' she says, and then asks, 'Does that surprise you?'

Does it surprise him? No, not in the way that it should. He rather feels certain levels of confused, lost and disconnected, that aren't deep enough into his understanding, to transform into surprise. However, he strangely feels overwhelmingly compelled to give her a positive answer.

'Yes.'

Only then, after his simple not-so-honest answer, does she turn to him, to calmly ask, 'Why?'

So calmly, she asks that? Meaning… Meaning she _did_ ask Whis to destroy their house? Because if that's the case, yes, he's surprised! Surprised that she's asking why he's surprised, like having a reason will make her see him as a criminal.

'Because why would you do that, Chi-Chi?' he questions with a frown. 'That's our house. Why would you ask Whis to destroy our house? And… Why did he do it while you were inside? He could've hurt you. I thought you were going to die. Why did you do that?'

'Why are you asking me that?' she questions him back. 'Was it wrong of me to ask Whis to do that?'

Really, he's still just trying understand _why_ she had Whis destroy their house, but what a question from her! He's not angry, he's not blaming her, he only wants to understand why she did that, and yet, she's asking him questions that are sure making him feel like he's in the wrong. All of a sudden, he finds that he is no longer just trying to understand her, he's also starting to get irritated with her.

His mind does a complete spin from where it had been, to how it's thinking now. What does she mean, was it wrong for her to ask Whis something like that? She really can't see that it was wrong? She asked Whis, to destroyed _their_ house, with _her_ in it, and there's really nothing wrong that she sees with that?

'That's our house,' he points at their restore house. 'Why would you have it destroyed? Why would you do something so irresponsible like that? You were inside, Chi-Chi, you _could've_ died.'

'But I didn't die,' she carelessly shrugs in his face. 'And look, our house is back to normal, so stop with all your nagging.'

After that, she begins to walk away from him, giving off the impression that they have reached the end of the conversation, and he just _cannot_ believe her. As he is in disbelief of his wife at the moment, he stands stunned to the spot. He's seriously irritated now too, but for the most part, he's just stunned.

He wonders, is his wife crazy? Does she think that, 'she didn't die, and look, our house is back to normal,' makes this okay? That it wipes out what happened? And she's just walking away? Really? She's now getting into the house, and closing the door behind her, and that's it? She's not going to explain this thing to him?

'Ah, well, it seems my work here is done,' Whis' voice brings him back from his thoughts.

That statement from Whis almost makes him want to let out a howl of laughter, but not because he feels tickled to laugh. It's that Whis can dare to something like that, as if destroying someone's home is the most normal thing to do in the world. Goku gets that Whis is Lord Beerus' attendant, and he may be used to seeing destruction, but touching someone else's home for no apparent reason, is not acceptable.

'Why did you do it, Whis?' he asks in frustration, his arms crossing.

'It was favour,' Whis calmly tells him.

This time, Goku does follow through with the urge to let out a laugh, asking, 'A favour?'

He got the _fright_ of his life, coming home to find what he found. His life had begun to slip from his mind, leaving him open to the vicious attack of insanity, if something happened to Chi-Chi, and Whis will stand there and tell him that it was it was a favour? _That_ , he has to laugh about.

A favour, Whis says? That's really funny. He calls destroying someone's home, and nearly killing that someone's wife in the process, a favour? What sort of favour is that? On second thought, as he's sobering up, no, he doesn't want to know. He doesn't want to look at Whis right now either, because who in the hell does favours like that?

'Whis, please go.'

He's not suggesting, he only wants Whis gone, and away from his property. That's all. Whis seems to notice this, because he eyes Goku with something that looks very much like sceptical surprise, although he doesn't make a comment. Instead, he slightly bows his head to agree, and then promptly disappears from sight. Soon after that, he instantly transmits into the house, to clear this thing up with Chi-Chi.

'Chi-Chi, I don't understand,' he says to her the second that his feet land close to her. 'You need to explain this to me, because I really thought that you were about to die. I thought someone had hurt you, and destroyed our home, but Whis says it was just a favour.'

'It was a favour,' she answers with a shrug, like it's nothing. 'I asked him to destroy our home, and bury me under the mess, just before you came home for lunch.'

So deeply, it bugs him that she can say that with a straight face, that he has to ask, 'Are you serious?'

He's not asking her to confirm what she said, no, he's wondering to know if she's lost her mind somewhere between being buried under the broken stones and now. More importantly, he's wondering if this is this her idea of a joke. Because even if it is, he's not going to laugh.

'I am,' she nods. 'But I'm also curious to know if I scared you by asking Whis to fake this attack on me.'

Since she's asking, he'll spare the time to that that yes, at that moment, he'd been frightened to the next life, that someone had attempted to kill her. But knowing the truth now, he's just angry. He's gone from confused, to irritated, to frustrated, and just now, angry. Why would she do something so stupidly irresponsible? And to him? Does she think it's funny for him to be confronted with the idea of her dying? It makes him angry to think that she would joke around with the idea of her death, like it's a funny trick that he's seen several times before.

'I'm pissed,' he shouts, speaking for his current feelings, not his past.

Every vein in his body is starting to jump out from under his skin, because he just can't comprehend how she doesn't understand her own thoughtless irresponsibility. Not only could've she really died, but had she died, she would've left him without a wife, and his sons without a mother. How can she not see the seriousness of the matter like that? Heck, to him, it's not so much about the 'supposed favour' anymore, it's about the 'what if,' that would've been his reality right now.

'Why?' she laughs, and he notices that it's much like how he'd laughed in Whis' presence. 'Does it make you angry that I did something _that_ thoughtless?'

'You shouldn't have done that,' sternly leaves his mouth, because that shouldn't even be a question from her. 'You destroyed our home-'

'How do you _think_ I feel every time that you die?' she calmly poses, cutting through his words.

He hears her question, but since he didn't get to finish his previous point (which he really feels like he has to make clear to her), he decides that he's not going to pay attention to her calm question, instead of completing his point, so that maybe it will drill into her understanding.

'AND YOU ALMOST DIED, CHI-CHI!' he bellows for added emphasis.

'HOW DO YOU THINK I FEEL EVERY TIME THAT YOU DIE?' she screams back at him, her face turning a deep shade of red, as her body trembles per word.

'That's not what we're talking about here!' he angrily throws his hands up in the air. 'We're talking about _you_ being careless, and how even though you didn't die, you _could've_.'

This whole argument, even though it just began, he is already losing patience with, much more her stubborn refusal to accept that she gave him the fright of his life.

'Hypocrite!' she hisses at him, one of her fingers pointedly jabbing at his chest. ' _You_ can hire Hit to kill all you want, without thinking about how it would destroy our home, and take you away from us, but I can't do the same thing? Why do I have to be responsible, when you can be carelessly selfish when it suits you? Why do I have to consider this family and this house, when you don't? Did I build this home on my own? This family? Huh? Did I do it all by myself?'

 _That's_ what she's doing? That little comment she made in there about Hit, is that what this is about? Her taking revenge on him, or trying to make him feel guilty? That's what she meant to do with that mess? He can't believe her!

In his subconscious, he knows that he's at fault, and that if he hadn't pulled that stunt with Hit, none of this would be happening. However, his conscious is now already frustrated with her for not understanding the impact of what she did, and angry for her actually doing it, that he can't bring himself to sink, and apologise for what he made her do in response. He would much rather hold his angry ground, insistently reminding her that she nearly died, and how that tore him apart.

'You were reckless,' he rasps. 'You made me angry! I'm _angry_. Do you have any idea how I felt seeing all of that?'

Just summoning the image to his mind, he has to deeply growl out in frustration for going back there, shake his head to remove the picture from his memory, and then violently kick the air between them, for not being able to stop seeing the image replayed in his mind.

'It feels horrible, doesn't it?' she sadly asks after his little commotion, seemingly sympathising with him.

Something about her sad tone, puts an immediate stopper on his anger, because apparently, now she understands his point, and is seeing from his side of things.

'So much, Chi-Chi,' he brokenly admits, taking a step to be closer to her, and closely share relay to her the exact depth.

'I know,' she carefully nods. 'I know better than anyone, how that feeling of everything you know, shattered in front of your eyes, kills you. I mean, when you realise that your life will never be the same again, after losing what you had, it poisons your life to less than half of what you know it to be, doesn't it? And the fear, it's real, isn't it? How it sucks on your blood, your very life, making you just want to give up. That's the worst, isn't it?'

She's understating it, he thinks, not yet ready to give her an answer. It's much more, and much worse than that. He hates to return to that scary moment, before he knew it was all a setup, a type of revenge for what he did with Hit, so he won't, but he won't pretend that it's not worse than she's making it to be with her words.

'Answer me, Goku,' she tightly urges. 'I want to hear you tell me how you _felt_ , because maybe if you say it out loud, you'll understand _how_ I feel every time that you die. Your death _hurts_ me, Goku. Always. You can't just go around hiring assassins to kill you, knowing that you will die. You can't keep breaking my heart with such recklessness _anymore_. There has to be a limit. _When_ will you reach it?' she finishes, breathing like her body is in pain, and she can't continue to support it anymore.

He was wrong.

Looking at her now, hearing the quiet defeat in her voice, and the absent light in her eyes, he realises that he was wrong. She didn't do this to take revenge on him. No, he figures out that she did this, with the single wish, that he would come to feel how she always feels about his death, and just how his decision to hire Hit was irresponsibly reckless, disregarding anyone else.

He was so wrong.

He hurt her, and she only wanted to show him a glimpse of what that hurt looks like, as much as she was able to. Realising this, makes his body feel heavy, his skin extremely hot, and like an invisible block of Whis' special concrete is tied around his neck, to specifically fall over his heart and make it heavy. It's most suffocating feeling that he has felt in his life, but strangely, in spite of his current discomfort, after all, just wants to pull her into him, and make what she felt disappear.

'Chi-Chi...' he bravely pushes out his stifling discomfort, to reach her with his sincere words. 'I'm sorry for making you feel that way.'

Sighing at first, she slowly raises her hand to cover her forehead, and then drops her hand, as if to say that isn't sure what to do with herself.

'I know that Saiyans don't have limits,' she tiredly says, 'and maybe I'm wrong for trying to give you a limit that you don't need, but... Goku... There _is_ a limit, right? You'll reach that limit, where death is no longer an adventure for you, won't you?'

No, he doesn't necessarily think that it's an adventure, he's just not afraid to die. He never has been, and because of that, he got carried away in wanting to fight Hit at his best, and lost the vision of what else matters in his life.

Ever so remorseful, he steps to her, starting with, 'Chi-Chi, I know that you're angry with me about Hit, and what I did-'

'Angry?' she asks in disbelief, laughing a little too. 'Is that what you think? That you left, _knowing_ you were going to die, and much worse, not thinking about anyone else while you did...' She shakes her head as someone undecided on which way to go, would do. 'I just don't know if it's worth it to scream at you. I don't think it is.'

She's disappointed, he concludes, that's disappointment in her words. Disappointment sums up why she didn't do anything all these days, why she still isn't yelling at him into the next dimension, and why she doesn't have the strength to properly fight with him, as she would've done at other times. And for that, he's rapidly sinking into a quicksand of regret.

'I'm trying to apologise,' he tries, his voice on the verge of shaking. 'Please just tell me what I can do. You're right, I didn't think about anyone else, so what do I have to do?'

'I just don't know if you want to apologise, because you felt it for yourself,' she quietly refuses, 'or because you truly _are_ sorry.'

'I _am_ sorry,' he replies, meaning it with everything.

Yes, part of the reason, is that he felt it for himself, what it's like to think that he lost her, but really, he is sorry for doing what he did. He's sorry for hiring Hit at all, that he would readily gather the Dragon Balls to summon Shenron, and use the all the wishes to undo what he did.

'I guess I'm just not ready to let it go yet,' Chi-Chi confesses, 'because I don't want to accept your apology. This time is different, Goku. I _hope_ you know that. You can't expect me to react the same way.'

He does, though. He knows and understands that he shouldn't, but he really just wants her to accept his apology, and then they can move on from that. He doesn't know if he can bear another minute of living on his nerves, or as he just discovered, living in the daunting shadow of her disappointment.

'Please,' he reaches for her arm, 'Chi-Chi, I'm sorry.'

'I want to accept that,' comes from her mouth, and to his surprise, her free fingers start to trace the skin of his wrist. 'But I just can't. I'm sorry.'

A last swipe of her thumb across his wrist, speaks the final decision for her, some time before she separates herself from the same space as him, and turns her back to start walking away from him. It's like she said, he sullenly longs after her leaving figure, this last time was, _is_ different. He made the choice to die, not for the good of the world, but for his own satisfaction, and that marks the great difference that she can't easily get over. He will, no matter how long it takes, have to wait for her to open a window for him.

* * *

 **Twelfth,** Sensual Chi-Chi.


	12. Chapter 12

**Twelfth,** Sensual Chi-Chi.

* * *

During the first hours of the morning, the other morning, where the sun has already risen, not where the stars still own the sky, Chi-Chi finds herself in the standing before Goten's bed, sorting out his clothes and sheets from the three laundry baskets at her feet. Her thoughts, though, are far away from the task that her hands are automatically performing, without the influence of her conscious brain. While her hands perform their work, her mind finds a cold home in thoughts of Goku.

It's been three days since he apologised, but her problem is still exactly the same as then.

He was _thoughtless_ , and _that_ remains the entire problem keeping her from moving on.

Somehow, no matter how hard she's tried so far, she can't seem to get over _that_ very fact. Of course, she wants to, she really wants to be over it and move on from it, but she just can't seem to climb over that wall of him being thoughtless, enough to do something recklessly stupid. Her legs seem to be weak (most likely unwilling, she'll probably discover, if she gives it proper thought) to make the attempt of beginning to climb over the wall emotionally separating him from her.

If _only_ she could get over the fact that he was thoughtless…

She and him, would have a normal conversation with him, for one thing. She would allow him to massage her feet one night that same night too. And if there remained some amount of time after that, they would decadently indulge in one other –preferably carelessly frenzied, _if_ he's willing. Then at the end of it all, he would stop sleeping all the way on the other side of the bed, and rather snuggled to her.

But aah, a mental sigh surfaces, if only she _could_ move past his thoughtlessness…

What gets her the most, is that it _clearly wasn't_ an impulsive thing that he did, placing an assassination bounty on his own life.

She believes it to have been a carefully calculated plan, which he thought of for at least longer than five minutes, before making the decision to contact Whis with the proposal. Whis, although she's only had two real conversations with him, seems like a well intellectual being, who would've questioned Goku's methods, before he gave in. Believing all that within her, then it's most likely that on one of the days (or nights) when he held her in his arms, or when he was playing around with Goten, or even engaging in something all three of them did together as a family, in the back of his mind, he was thinking of the best way to go about getting Hit to fight him seriously.

How can that thought not get her the most?

What person in the world, with the ability to feel, would not feel entitled to feeling cheated that way?

When he gave his plan to contract Hit sufficient thought, not to mention, how he took a good sum of money from their savings to properly contract Hit, all through a period where he was happily home with them, but didn't once consider that he would be hurting anyone in the process, he cheated on their familial trust. He cheated on his sons, who adore him with their beautiful hearts, and definitely on her, the woman dedicated to keeping their family together with her love for all of them. He didn't _once_ put them in his plan, as though they all mean nothing in his life.

Sheer thoughtlessness, is what he exercised, and she just can't get over that.

She's tried, though. She _really_ has.

She's tried to get over it, by talking to all the people that matter in the mess, thinking that she would get better clarity from them, to help her move on from it. Piccolo, Gohan and Goten all told her that when they found out what Goku was up to, he _at least_ had the decency to ask them if he could be selfish, and fight to his heart's content with Hit. Apparently, Goten hadn't been willing to easily accept that, and Goku wouldn't go without Goten's permission, but Goten eventually understood that he could trust his father to fight with all of his might and not lose. All that, should've given her a different perspective, she guesses, only, it rather only made her wonder if he did that, because they found him out, or because he wanted to ask them either way.

Much like she wonders about his apology to her, to be honest.

She knows that he was sincere about his apology, that he felt what it meant to be sorry at the time of his apology, but she wonders, had he not felt what she made him feel on purpose, would he have apologised to her at all? There's always that little difference between wanting to do something, because it was so-to-speak mildly forced on you to realise, and wanting to do something, because you realise it yourself, and that little difference, is what matters to her in this case with her husband.

To be completely honest, though, she wishes that little difference wasn't an issue for her.

The thing is, she's not comfortable with Goku walking on his toes around her, because of that issue. She doesn't like that he is censoring himself, and well, not being himself around her, because he is afraid that she will explode on him. She's tired of having her husband around, but not being able to have him really, in any small or big sense, because there's a wall that issue between them.

She's just… It's just…

The fact that he made space in his mind to think of something so serious, without realising the effect that it would have on those around him, emphasises his thoughtlessness to her, and that just makes it that much harder to accept his apology as something whole and curing between them. That's why she's having a hard time truly moving past it.

That he died, even though she mentioned it to him as something significant, she doesn't care all that much for. She wouldn't have liked for him to die permanently, obviously, but had it come to that, Goku has an abundance of godly friends, who would've easily resurrected him, where Shenron and Porunga couldn't. And to be honest, she has experience with dealing with his death, so it would've have felt like the complete end of the world. After all, after some time of being exposed to something, a small resistance starts to build…

But oh… These thoughts aren't helping her.

It's because she keeps replaying these same thoughts over and over, as she does her chores, while she relaxes, when she tries to eat, or at whatever time of the day when her mind is conscious, that she is not able to properly find a way to push past them, and she only has herself to blame.

She doesn't know, maybe she likes to have something over him. Maybe she's finally manifesting a hidden grudge that she's been holding in for all the years that he's been away, making her suffer everyday as a result. Although she's not aware of any grudge within her, she might have one, and from there comes her inability to let go this, with him, this time around. She _did_ tell him that this time is different…

But if only it wasn't so…

* * *

 **26Chapters**

* * *

'Goku...' she softly tries for his attention.

She's making sure to keep the tone of her voice low enough not to startle him, or have him on the balls of his feet in a second, because honestly, that's how it's been since that dinner at Bulma's. The fact that he is sitting in the sofa, only moving a single dumbbell from one hand to another with no effort at all, says to her, that he just needs one opportunity. He could've very well been training, or even working in the field, if not visiting his friends, but he's choosing to spend his afternoon here, bored out of his mind, because he is clearly trying to create a connection path between them, for her to forgive him.

'Chi-Chi...' he breathlessly welcomes her after carefully lifting his head, and turning it to the sound of her voice.

More than his expression makes her wonder if she changed the sound of his name, to something that he hasn't ever heard, he looks ready to get up from his seat, if she says the word, or gives the signal. Detecting that, Chi-Chi quickly holds out her hand to stop him from getting up, following that hand gesture with moving to take a seat beside him, in case he internally starts to panic that she's finally reached the final line of mercy. Once she's seated next to him on the sofa, he turns his body, making it so that their faces are directly facing each other.

'Chi-Chi, I'm sorry for not telling you about Hit,' his sorrowful apology begins. 'It wasn't right of me, and you have to know that I wasn't planning to tell you about it, because I knew that you would try to stop me. I still think about how you jumped to me, when I fell out of the ring during my fight with Frost, and...'

'It's not even that you didn't tell me,' she lets him know, because really, that's not it.

Yes, that little piece of information, she didn't know before now, but as minimally as it should be a consolation, it's not. She rather finds that it's only helping to stack up against the one that thing she is struggling to let go of. She already knew that he knew that he would possibly die, but this new piece of information, is just more proof of his thoughtlessness.

'I kind of know that,' he timidly admits, lowering his head a little, 'but I just want to apologise for everything.'

'You _already_ did that,' she reminds him.

The problem isn't his apology. No, his apology, she doesn't necessarily need to hear again, because she believed it to be true and sincere from the moment that he said it. He somewhat disheartened by her reply, she notes, and it sounds clearly in his response.

'I know, but I _want_ to do it again. I was waiting for you to accept that, but it's been so many days, and I just want to apologise _again_.'

Of course he wants to apologise to her again, she internally sympathises. He wouldn't be himself if he didn't want to make things right for her, as they should be.

'You don't have to,' she tries to assure him.

Just as she thought would happen, her words alone aren't enough to put him at ease. Instead, he looks unconvinced, and the words that come from his mouth, support that appearance of his.

' _I want to_ , okay, Chi-Chi?' he pleadingly insists.

In her mind, she sees him reach for her hand, and gently smooth it in his own, to make her see that this is important to him. That isn't their physical reality, but his pleading confession is the right tug on her heart, to make her understand that he's dying to just what she saw in her mind.

'I know, Goku,' she says, especially adding his name, to say that she wants to touch his heart for comfort too, more than the faint smile that she is showing him, could ever do.

' _Then let me_...' he begs. ' _Please_.'

It's all I can do, he doesn't verbally say, although, the rest of him _does_. Without speaking the words, she knows that he apparently feels useless to solve this problem between them, and so he wants to cling onto the one thing that he is able to do (and mean with all of his soul) for as long as he is able. More tones of sympathy, seep into her heart, burdening her so much, that she feels only cornered to relieve herself of that specific pressure.

'I accept your apology,' she automatically decides tells him.

Quite unlike she immediately thought, his features remain unchanged, telling her that he doesn't believe her. It's an endearing child-like trait of his, that she would, at any other time appreciate about him, but when she adds how he averts his eyes away from hers, and then slightly drops his head down, she can't help it question if she's being sincere with him, or simply said what she said, to make herself feel better.

'Then why are we still not okay?' he quietly wants to know, keeping his head hung down. 'What do you want me to do?'

'I don't know,' she sadly admits.

That answer gets him to lift his head and look at her, as though his eyes searching hers, will do the adequate job that his question couldn't. She hopes that in her eyes, he will also discover that she really doesn't know, that she only knows that his thoughtlessness, is something that she just can't work around. Another truth that she wants him to find in her eyes, is how she wants to reach him, be crazy close to him, and share what they always share when he's at home, but she just can't reach over that wall, and she truly doesn't know what's keeping her from breaking it down.

'If _you_ don't know,' he seems to mourn, 'then I won't know what to do.'

That much is clear, she silently agrees, her heart aching to soothe him. He's right in saying that if she doesn't know what she wants from him, he won't know what to do about it, but the thing is, she can't ask him for more time. Time is all that he has been giving her these long days and night, so maybe (she thinks of this on the spot) the next best thing, would be for him to leave, and just be away from her, especially if he's uncomfortable with being in this situation. Who knows, maybe she might even be able to work out herself in the meantime.

'Goku, if you don't want to be here,' she tells him, 'you don't have to be.'

She's not going to obligate him to stay with her, simply because she is not over what happened. If he is suffocating, then he has that right to leave. She would prefer that he doesn't leave, of course, that he sticks out all the uncomfortable ambience with her, by her side, but she can't _make_ him stay if it's breaking him. It wouldn't be fair that way, it would just be a form of begrudged revenge.

'What do you mean?' he asks with a confused frown.

'I mean...' she pauses to let a steadying second go by, and then continues. 'You can leave, if you want. I don't want you to, but you _can_ leave.'

Pulling a face, he asks, 'Like leave the house? I know that. I just want to be here today.'

'Not really the house...' she mumbles, because this isn't really the conversation that she wants to be having with him. 'Well, yes, I guess the house, but...'

How does she say this? Seeing his innocently unaware and waiting expression, and feeling her own need to stumble on the proposal, so that it doesn't come out the right, she just wonders how she will tell him that he can leave for wherever it is that he will be comfortable.

'But what?' he asks.

'I mean... If you don't want to be in this with me, like this, you can leave.'

She knew, even before the words left her mouth, that they wouldn't be meeting each other in the middle on this, so when we spends a good moment only looking at her, his eyes going all over her face and finally settling on her eyes, she's not in the least surprised. She understands that while she is here, at this spot, where he is supposed to meet her, he is faltering in his steps, to get to her. The wait for him to reach, is quite something of agony in her soul, that it almost sounds like her very soul is vibrating in fear on when he does reach her.

A small whisper would be nice, she thinks, because it would distract her from the sound of her soul in agony for waiting. As his eyes remain on hers, she wishes that a sound, anything really, outside would announce itself, distracting her from the waiting, until he finally reaches her.

'You're joking,' he finally, but softly states.

That's the conclusion that he has come to, apparently, and she finds that the silence before he spoke, was a touch better than his statement. All over again, she will have to go through the nerves of speaking the words she has no need to say, if he still doesn't understand her next answer.

'I'm not,' she shakes her head.

For another good moment, he silently looks into her eyes, and then his countenance significantly falls. Even though her eyes are set on his, she vaguely sees his chest and shoulders rise, signalling the beginning of an unexpected serious emotional attack. She hears a soft thud of a sound, leading her eyes to see what happened to cause that sound, and find that the dumbbell that had been in his hand, is now rolling away from them.

She would almost safely assume that in the rush of the moment, he lost grip of it and it fell out of his hand, if she didn't know better than for Goku to let go of something in his hand in that way. He is usually the type to hold on tight when he gets a surprise, not let go. In short, she knows that he deliberately let that dumbbell fall from his hand, so when he shortly gets up, she's not surprised, because everything preceding this, pointed to his being unsettled.

'Fine, I deserved that thing you did that with Whis,' he sourly states. 'But this? We're not married for fun, Chi-Chi. You think this is a game we're playing?'

That is how he took what she said? She can't really blame him for thinking that, to be honest. What, with her not really taking his apology and now telling him that he can leave if he wants to...

'That's not what I meant,' she quietly starts to explain, finding it really hard to keep her seat when he is on his feet before her.

'I don't care what you meant!' he cries. 'You can't say scary things like that! It's like you want me to leave. It's like we're living in this house for fun! Don't say things like that, it's not funny.'

'I _know_ it's not funny,' she urgently returns, 'because that's not what I meant.'

He should know. She really didn't mean to make it sound like she doesn't value their family or his being here. She only wanted him to know that he has that option to _not_ be stuck with her, if that makes him uneasy. She didn't mean to make him lose his mind with anger. But on the other hand, she's feeling a little petty satisfaction for the fact that he is displaying seriously bothered behaviour this way. Not that he didn't have feelings before, but it's really good to know that he's capable of feeling the effect of an idea before it becomes an actual reality.

'Just don't say it again,' he tells her after considering her, crossing his arms and coming back to sit with her again.

'I really just wanted to tell you that I want to let it go, but I just can't,' she tells him. 'That's why I came to you. It's just Goku... Being part of this house, is a full-time job. Being a mother and wife is a full-time job. Worrying about all of you is a full-time job. Worrying about this house is a full-time job too, so I...'

'You want me to take some jobs from you?'

It really sounds like he's offering more than he's asking to clarity, which makes her let out a little laugh. Just to consider the option of relinquishing her jobs to him, is a little humorous to her. She can't even begin to imagine him getting everything done, from A to Z, without uttering a single complaint, or at the very least, falling asleep from sheer disinterest. The idea is a little laughable.

'Wouldn't that be nice?' she humours him. 'I could take a holiday somewhere, and leave you and Goten by yourself for a while.'

Expressing shock more than it sounds in his voice, he asks, 'You... Want to _go_?'

'Sometimes, yeah,' she admits with a small nod. 'But that's not what I meant.'

Despite her answer, he doesn't look like he believes her. If anything, he rather looks like he wants to take back his offer to help her with her jobs, if it means that she will leave him and Goten by themselves.

'You need to start saying what you mean, not what you don't,' he complains in any case.

That's not fair, she defensively thinks. He's the one taking everything that she is saying, some way that she doesn't intend. It's like he's twisting every word from her mouth, to make it sound like what his guilt is needs to hear.

'Look,' she starts as gently as she can, 'I'm partly saying that if you can't bring yourself to constantly remember that there are other people who are a part of your life, then maybe leaving _is_ good for you. That way, you won't have to think about anyone but yourself, and we won't ever know of the choices that you make.'

'It sounds like you're chasing me out,' he says.

'I'm not chasing you out.'

'It sounds like you are.'

To him, she supposes that it may be like that, because after all this time, although they've continued to live amicably, she just hasn't been able to let it go. Not because of maliciousness, though, if that matters to him at all. She rather suspects that it is more from feeling like she is alone when she is supposed to be in it with him. But even so, in which universe, no matter how 'not okay' they are, would she ever chase him away from her?

'I would never do that,' she says to him. 'You should know that.'

'I just want us to be the same as before,' he says after her, that way explaining himself, 'and it doesn't feel like we will be. I'm sorry about that. I'm sorry for everything. I know that I can't make you accept it, but I _am_ sorry.'

'We _will_ be okay,' the assurance boldly leaves her mouth, even though she has no proof of that at the moment.

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 **26Chapters**

* * *

In the morning, the next morning, she opens her eyes, and as always, she sees that he is way on the other side of the bed. For the last week and some days, she didn't so much give thought to their situation, but something about this morning makes her stare at his turned back and start to think.

They are in the same bed, and yet so separated.

How did she allow this thing between them to stretch out so far between them, that air is now separating them in bed, where before, air could not even come between them? How did she allow him to get out of reach from her? Has she really just been afraid of letting go, because accepting his apology and moving on, would ultimately mean that he would up and leave them again, at the first opportunity? It wouldn't surprise her much, if that has been the underlying argument within her subconscious, pushing her to hold on to not accepting his apology.

Isn't his remorse enough for her, though?

Holding onto his thoughtlessness, is withholding her forgiveness from him, and shunning his remorse, as though it means nothing to her. She's essentially saying to him, that his careful consideration throughout all of these days, and his deliberate actions of helping her where he could, just so she could see that he was willing to do anything to win back her usual self, is nothing at all to her, that it holds no value, when that isn't really the case.

She wonders, who is she really?

What is she doing being this way with her husband?

Why is she allowing his back to the what she wakes up to? Does she not remember all those previous mornings when she woke up to nothing on the other side, and her heart ached with longing for him? When did she forget the deep sense of missing a vital extension of herself, when he wasn't there with her? How come she is allowing him to be here with her, and far away from her at the same time? What will happen when some other evil suddenly shows up, and he is forced to sacrifice himself this every day, and he would've left the house without being at peace with her?

No, this needs to end.

This is selfish of her.

She realises now that there is nothing more that he could've done. He saw what she wanted him to see. He felt what she wanted him to feel, and he apologised with genuine sincerity. There's really nothing more that he could've done to convince her, because it's been her all along. Of course, this acceptance of responsibility is not to nullify her case against him, but in the end, none of it will matter, to be honest. Yes, what he did was not right, but it's over, and holding it over him will not solve or change anything, it will just further alienate him, when he's chosen to remain right here with her. So... This is it, this is the end of it.

Rolling over to him, she begins to shake him and calls his name once. It takes time, and a few more shakes than just the initial three, but he finally rouses from sleep and turns around, to sleepily look at her.

'Hey, is something wrong?' he wonders while studying her face.

'No,' her head shakes. 'I just wanted to tell you that we're okay now.'

She'll admit that her home, occupied by Goten and Goku, is a precious field of endearing treasures, especially when they make certain expressions. Like his current one of happy disbelief upon hearing her declaring them over that unpleasant phase of their lives, fills up her lungs with fresh alleviating air.

'Really?' he tentatively asks, pushing his body closer to hers.

Her only response, seeing as he is only a second from making contact with her, is to nod. She supposes that she should make some long speech, a speech filled with an explanation, but she feels that he doesn't need it. Only to hear that they are fine, is perfectly enough for him. It's so enough, that he grabs her face and pulls it to him, to plant a happily sloppy kiss on her lips. Afterwards, he releases her face, to prop himself on his elbow and look at her adoringly.

'We're really okay,' he savours that, sounding too grateful for it.

'We're really okay,' she whispers her confirmation with a smile.

Finally, she feels relieved. Relieved that now she can smile, with no reminder in the back of her head, telling her that all is not well with her and her husband. Because of that, both of them spend a good amount of time simply looking at each other and drinking in this overdue comfortable peace between them. What she loves the most about this, is how established they are in their relationship, that not many words are ever needed to smooth something out between them. While she did take her time to get them here, there's no real need to iron out every crease that had been her resistance and refusal. All that matters now, is that they are fine, she is relieved, he is relieved and they are both here.

'I love this day,' he finally breaks through the silence.

'It's morning,' she corrects him, which reminds her that there's breakfast to be made. 'I have to get up.'

'Noooo,' he whines, reaching his arm out to pull her into him.

Selfish, she fondly thinks, barely keeping a small smile from her face. He wants her to stay in bed with him, conveniently forgetting that Goten has to eat an hour and a half from now, when he wakes up for school. It's selfish of him to want cosy time with her in his arms, until he feels it's time for him to get out of bed.

'There's breakfast...' she tries to reason with him.

Because she is pressed into him, with only her head being a good shot away from his, her eyes take in his face for a moment, and when he smiles at her, that sweetly happy smile of his, beautiful enough to transform the bleakest of days, a tender hunger for him begins to swell inside of her. She would be surprised at the sudden occurrence of it, seeing as she had no intention of wanting that from him this morning, except, they've reached a wonderful page of reconciliation and it reminds her of what a man she's been missing all the days before.

After showing him a small smile, she frees one of her hands trapped between them, to cup around his throat, gently pull his face into hers. She can't be sure of who completes the rest of the way, she or him, all she knows is that they each act individually when their lips touch. Where she's trying to be gentle and not kiss him forcefully, or urgently (more accurately this), Goku is attacking her lips furiously. This is not what she intended, and yet, she allows him his urgency for a small moment, because he's been deprived for a while.

As soon as that moment is over, though, she hooks her leg around his back, to keep him close to her, because pulling away from the kiss as she will do in a second, will make him feel robbed. The surprise that hits her when she pulls away, though, comes way too fast for her, that she only comes to realise that is flipped on her back, and now both her legs are around his body, trapping him between her. She didn't expect that he would do this, more than she thought he would try to pull her in for another kiss, which is why the surprise hits her so hard for a while.

'I missed you,' he confesses, only, the sound of his voice is very unlike its usual self.

She suddenly wishes that their bedroom had adjustable lights, so that she could turn the lights down and create the perfect atmosphere for him. But a morning like this one, is all right too, she can welcome its newness just the same as she would've welcomed the dimmed light of night. While she does understand that he's been starved of even the smallest of touches recently, she wants this to be special for him. She wants to cater to him in a timely manner, with her leading everything.

'I know, but you're supposed to let me,' she whispers.

'Later. I promise,' he responds, quickly moving his hands to take her face between them.

She doesn't allow him that, though, because it's important to her, that they have a slow and patient time. Considering that he's been generously patient with her all this time, she just wants to paint it very clearly, what she thinks of him for doing that for her. Plus, she didn't even get to tell him the reason for her letting this go, so this should make up for every sentence that she didn't give him.

'No,' she declines by holding onto his wrist. 'Just trust me, and let me.'

Swallowing at first, Goku then nods his resignation. He begins to pull away from her, giving her the silent go ahead, but for her own heart, she keeps her hold on him, to take a small moment to indulge in just looking at him.

'I love you, Goku,' she prefaces before going any further.

She hasn't said it to him in days, and right now is when she feels it the most. The reconnection after a disconnection, is the best opening for her to feel overflowing with love.

'I love you too,' he hoarsely replies.

He leans in for a kiss then, apparently finding that as an opening, and she smiles (softly laughs actually), at his impatience just like a child's. He clearly knows that he's getting a present specifically to make him happy, but he just wants it _already_.

'You suck at waiting,' she laughs.

Only when he wants to suck at it, though, she mentally reminds herself. He can be patient, and he does have the ability to make himself suffer through waiting when it matters the most, it's only that for the most part, when it comes to him being at home, he forgets that word every ten seconds.

'Waiting is sooo hard,' comes out a lamenting whine from his mouth, leading him to bury his face in her neck.

It must be hard for him, she reasons, which is why she doesn't waste anymore in directing him onto his back. In the process of rotating them, she detaches herself from him, leaving her neck free, as well as her legs from around him, so that when his back softly makes contact with the mattress, she's able to see his open mouthed gasp. Automatically, her mind redirects altogether, and suddenly all her mind can see, is her mouth pulling him deeper into her deeper into it…

That would be a good place to start, her mind tells her. But no…

She has to remember... Of the two of them, he is the more sensitive. When he's fully charged, his tactility is explosive to touch, and he just... Whatever suppressed form of energy that he had from before, is automatically shifted from being hidden, to adrenaline. His adrenaline then becomes a liquid heat in his veins, flowing wildly with a rush and pushing his body to feel the most extreme of needs to pounce and connect wildly. She on the other hand, feels more love during sex after an uncomfortable time, because she knows that they survived yet another obstacle between them, and so, she likes to give as much love as she feels.

To her, in this moment specifically, the fact that they can willingly touch each other, is proof that forgiveness has happened between them, and they are right with each other once again. Although, it's more important for her to convey her love and ease to him, through enticing all of his senses until he feels properly overwhelmed in his body, leaving him no choice but to shift the overload of sensations in his body, to his heart instead.

'It'll be worth the wait,' she leans down to say close to his neck.

She imagines that her breath on his neck has an effect on him, because his voice is a little shaky when he asks, 'You promise?'

He's not doubting her, she knows. He's merely confirming if she means for him to stop trying to take control of the situation between them, and she will merely assure him (with a loving smile) that well, yes…

'I promise.'

* * *

 **Thirteenth,** Content Goten.


	13. Chapter 13

**Thirteenth,** Content Goten.

* * *

'Mom, after I take Dad his lunch, can I go with Trunks to the shops?'

She might say yes. She might say no. He thinks that she will say yes, but she might say no. His mom says no to him sometimes, and he gets a little upset, but then he always finds something else to do.

'What do you want from the shops? I could get it for you.'

Hmm…

It would be nice if his mom got what he wants from the shops, but he wants to go by himself. With Trunks. What he wants from the shop, is a present for Videl. He was at their wedding, and it was really fun, but he didn't give her a present. He also didn't get Gohan a present, but Gohan is his brother, he doesn't need a present from him. He just wants to get Videl a present. Videl is nice. And she likes his brother, so he likes her especially because she likes his brother.

'What do you want from the shops, Goten?' she asks again.

'Can you buy me a video game, Mom? Trunks has one.'

That's not really what he wants to go do at the shops, but she's the one asking what he wants, so he might as well tell her. He'd also like to have a video game like Trunks does. It will be fun to play on it. Maybe his dad can even play with him. Or even his grandpa. His grandpa is really fun to be around.

'I can't buy you a video game, sweety,' his mom says while looking at him. 'We have to use our money wisely, until your dad starts selling some of his crops.'

'Okay, Mom,' he accepts.

It makes him a little sad to know that he won't be getting a video game, but he's used to not having everything that Trunks has. Sometimes, he just wants some special things, though.

'You can save your money until you have enough to buy a video game,' she tells him.

Shaking his head, he says, 'No, I can't save. I want to use my money to buy Videl a present.'

'Really?' his mom looks surprised. 'What do you want to get her?'

'I don't know yet,' he shrugs. 'I want to look around the shops with Trunks. I want to get her a really nice present.'

If his mom knows that, then she might not say no to him going with Trunks. It's also the truth, he doesn't know yet what he can get Videl, but he knows that Trunks will help him find something nice.

'That's wonderful of you, Goten,' his mom smiles at him. 'I'm sure Videl will appreciate whatever you get her.'

He smiles back at his mother, because he always likes it when his mom tells him that he is doing something good. When it comes from his mom, it always makes him feel really happy, that he did something to make her happy.

'Now, you need to eat before you take your dad's lunch. I don't want you getting hungry later on and bothering Bulma with Trunks. She's a very busy woman, and she shouldn't be bothered by your little stomachs.'

'But Mom, Bulma doesn't even cook, remember? They have a lot of people working there at their house.'

'Still, Goten, I want you to eat before you go.'

'Okay!' he happily agrees. 'Can I have a lot of food?'

He saw her packing his dad's lunch, and since Sunday food is always the best, he wants a lot of it too. Like his dad's food. One day, when he's really grown and big, he'll eat as much as his dad, he just knows it. But for now, he can only eat so much food before he feels like he's going to explode. His mom always tells him to be careful when he's eating, and mostly refuses to give him more than enough food during meals. Just like now, she's looking at him like she doesn't want him saying such things.

'Will you finish it?' she asks, and he nods to answer her.

'Are you sure?' she asks again, and he nods again.

He doesn't really think that she will give him as much food as he is thinking, even if she is asking him if he sure about wanting a lot of food, but it's nice to be silly with his mom like this. When she's not talking to him seriously, she can be really funny. Or when she's not scolding him for something naughty that he did, she can be really funny.

'So, do you want this much food?' she asks, spreading her hands apart to show him the size that she means.

'More!'

'Like this?'

She spreads her hands too much, that it looks like she's opening her arms to hug his grandpa. Only his grandpa would fit in that space between her arms, and that means it's too much food for him to want.

'That's too much,' he giggles, also shaking his head.

His mom brings her hands back together, and then says, 'But you said you want a lot of food.'

'Not _that_ a lot, Mom.'

'Just making sure,' she jokes. 'I thought maybe you wanted to eat a lot and be as huge as Grandpa.'

As huge as his grandpa? No, he doesn't want to be that. He won't be able to have fun and be a really strong fighter, if he becomes like his grandpa. He'll probably have to stay at home all day, if he got that huge, not going to school or anything.

'No,' he shakes his head with a lot of energy. 'I only want to be like my brother. Or Dad.'

'What about me?'

'You're a girl, Mom. I can't be like you. And you don't even eat a lot.'

'I eat the happiness that you and your father give me, that's why,' his mom tells him.

He doesn't know why his mom is not laughing at what she just said, because it's so funny to him. She doesn't even have a smile on her face, when he can't stop giggling at her answer.

'You can't eat happiness!' he says after he stops giggling.

'Yes, I can.'

'No, you can't,' he says, going right back to his giggling.

'Goten, I can.'

He doesn't think so, because happiness is not food. People can only eat food, unless they are aliens like in that one movie he watched with Trunks, and the aliens ate metal.

'I'll ask Gohan if it's true.'

His brother knows everything, so he'll tell him the truth for sure. It's not that he thinks that his mom is lying to him, it's just that his mom likes to play around sometimes, and she would tell him things with a serious face, only to make him laugh.

'You can ask him,' she shrugs, 'but he will tell you the same thing as me.'

'No, he won't,' he says, not willing to accept it.

His mom turns to him and playfully pinches both of his cheeks with her fingers like she usually does, when she wants to get him to stop arguing with her. It always makes him feel like a baby when she does that, but he won't lie and say that it doesn't make him feel happy and special to his mom.

'Don't argue with Mom, Goten,' she says while pinching his cheeks. 'Also, you need to start eating. Your father will start starving soon.'

Oh, right! He still has to take his dad lunch. He forgot about that.

* * *

 **26Chapters**

* * *

'Dad?'

'Hmm?'

'Are you going to tell Mom that I almost crashed with the tractor?'

He's actually a little scared that his dad might say something to his mom about his accident. There are times when he hears his parents talking, and they talk about everything. Once, he even heard his dad telling his mom about almost stepping on a family of small bugs when he was training. If his dad tells his mom about his accident with the tractor, she'll talk to him for hours and hours about being careful and safe. He then he won't be able to tell her that he panicked and forgot to get out of the tractor and fly it back up to land, because that will mean more words from her.

'What?' his dad jumps back from touching the tractor. 'No, no, no, no. No way! She'll kill me first, before she kills you.'

His dad's reaction makes him laugh, but seeing his dad scared at the thought of his mom finding out about the accident, gives him an idea. If the two of them are on the same side and his mom is on her side alone, she won't be able to kill both of them.

'We can team up against her,' he suggests to his dad.

'I think we would still lose, Goten,' his dad replies, a little bit sad. 'You know your mom.'

'Yeah,' he agrees, nodding his head as he remembers his mom as she normally is. 'She's the best.'

His dad smiles at him, saying, 'She is.'

He's glad that his dad thinks the same as him about his mom. He's also glad that his dad won't tell his mom about the accident, which means that he won't be worried about getting into trouble when he gets back home from getting Videl a present. Since he already brought his dad his lunch, he thinks that it's time he goes to Trunks now, so he gets up from the tractor, to support himself in a flying position.

'I'm going to Trunks now, Dad.'

His dad frowns at him, asking, 'What for? You could stay here with me.'

Yeah, he could stay her with dad, that would be fun, but now that that they talked a little bit about jobs and money, and he's sure that his mom won't hear about his accident, it's time to go looking for Videl's present. He doesn't want it to get too late.

'I wanna get Videl a wedding gift,' he tells his dad. 'I didn't get her anything at her wedding.'

'What are you gonna get her?'

'I don't know,' he shrugs. 'Trunks will help me.'

'Okay, good,' his dad replies like he is really happy about it, 'because I'm never good with that kind of stuff. You should've asked your mom instead, you know.'

He could've done that, but he wants the present to come from him, not his mom's help. Trunks help doesn't count, because Trunks is a just like him, not a grown up.

'Mom said whatever I get will be fine.'

'Okay,' his dad nods, 'But…'

'What?'

'Do you have to go already? Don't you want to try and punch me before you go?'

Smiling to himself, he quickly moves to catch his dad off guard, already forgetting about going with Trunks since his father sparring with him. His quick doesn't land on his father, but the attempt and seeing his father jump back so fast, makes him realise how fun this will be.

'Woah, Goten, give me a warning first!' his dad complains, but he just laughs and moves to try and punch his dad again.

* * *

 **26Chapters**

* * *

Just outside their house door, his dad asks again if he really thinks that his mom will like the money surprise. It's not something new for him to see his dad nervous when he has a surprise for his mom, but it's always strange to him. His dad is the strongest person in the world, but he gets nervous about the smallest things, and that is strange.

'She will,' he tells his dad.

His dad holds the briefcase out to him. 'Okay, then you hold the bag and tell her.'

He refuses to take the briefcase, telling his dad that he thinks it will be better if he carries it in, and tell her. She will like the surprise better if it comes from him, Goten tells him. His dad looks worried still, though.

'You _really_ think she'll be glad, Goten?'

'Yes.'

'Okay,' his dad breathes out. 'Let's go in.'

His dad is about to open the door, but Goten stops him, nudging on his arm, because an idea comes to him.

'Hide it behind your back, so we can surprise her,' he says.

He thinks that it will be better if his mom doesn't see the briefcase at first, before his dad explains himself.

'You're right, Goten.'

His dad then holds the briefcase behind his back with one hand, and they go inside the house together. He stays behind to close the door, since his dad can't show the briefcase.

'Mom, we're home,' he calls when he sees that his mom is has her back to the door.

She turns around at the sound of his voice, to ask, 'This late?'

'Dad was finishing the whole field,' he explains why they are late. 'He did it all.'

'Really?' she asks, looking surprised when she turns to his dad. 'You did the whole field?'

'Yeah…' his dad scratches the back of his head. 'I didn't plan to, but I thought I might as well.'

Goten likes how happy his mother gets when she hears that the whole field is finished. He likes to be the one to make his mom smile or happy, but he doesn't mind it when his dad does it. As long as his mom is happy.

'That's wonderful, Goku!' she says, holding her own face between her hands. 'So, you'll start planting soon?'

'Uh… We'd have to get a little rain first, but yeah, I guess. I really want to train on King Kai's planet for a bit before then, though.'

Goten spends a lot of time with his parents at home, and he gets to see them talk to each other like he is not there, so he has a way of knowing what his mom is going to say before she says, by reading her face. He gets a little lost sometimes, because only one of his parents will say something and the other would just respond with their face, and that is that, but mostly, he knows how to tell what his mom will say to his dad.

Like now, how she look at his dad for a long time without saying anything, or making any kind of face to say that she will refuse him, because he has a good reason, he just knows that she won't deny his dad the chance to go and train at King Kai's.

'I hope it rains soon,' she finally says, 'so you don't stay too long at King Kai's.'

When his dad lets out a laughs, Goten thinks that he knows that laugh. Just like his dad, when he doesn't want to agree with his mom, but doesn't want to disagree with her either, he laughs in that way.

'All right you two, go and get ready for dinner,' she tells them, only, they can't do that without giving her the surprise.

'But Mom, we have a surprise for you.'

'For me?'

'Uh-huh,' him and his dad say together.

Looking from him to his dad, and then back to him again, she wants to know, 'What is it?'

His dad looks at him, asking if he should tell her already. He is obviously still nervous about the money, because he didn't want to take it in the first place, so he maybe thinks that his mom will also think that it was a bad idea to take Mr. Satan's money. He knows that his mom won't be angry, so he nods.

'Um…' his dad starts to talk after the signal. 'Mr. Satan got this bunch of money from the world or something. You know, for saving us from Buu.'

'He didn't do that!' his mother disagrees.

'I know, but the world doesn't. It doesn't matter anyway, Chi-Chi.'

'I just don't like him publically taking credit for something that got so many of your friends killed,' she tells his dad.

'You don't want _me_ to admit helping to defeat Buu, do you?'

'No,' she shakes her head. 'I don't want you bragging about it either. Those of us who know the truth, matter the most.'

'So what do you want?' his dad asks, sounding confused about what to do to make her happy.

'I don't want to debate about Hercule Satan,' she says. 'I want you to eat dinner, because you worked hard today.'

Goten feels that this is his chance to jump into the conversation between his parents. If his dad isn't going to remind her that they still have a surprise for her, he will. He's excited to see her reaction, and how happy she will be when she sees the money they brought for her.

'But Mooooom, we still have the surprise for you.'

'What is it, Goten?'

'It's something really important.'

In the afternoon, they talked a little bit about money, so he knows that this is important to her and their family.

'What is it?' she curiously asks again.

To answer her question, his dad brings out the briefcase from Mr. Satan, showing it between her and him.

'I was trying to tell you,' his dad says, 'that Mr. Satan gave me this money.'

'Money?'

'Yes.'

'Goku, I know we need to start making some money soon, but you didn't go asking Hercule for money, did you?'

'No way,' his dad cries. 'I wouldn't do that! He really gave it to me. Ask Goten. We were just standing there talking, and Mr. Satan came with his car, and offered me the money, because he doesn't need it and Vegeta doesn't want it. He said it's a hundred million zenny.'

His mom doesn't smile yet, she only blinks a few times, and then reaches out for his arm to hold. When her hand holds onto his dad's wrist, then only she makes a surprised face.

'A hundred million zenny, you said?!'

Now that his mom is reacting, his father immediately looks at him, smiling and nodding. He smiles back at his dad, very glad that they could surprise his mom like this. She starts to talk about the many way that she can use the money, and in the middle of that, his Dad asks if he can really go to train with King Kai now. His mom tells him that she should just visit them at least, because she is too busy being surprised by the actual amount of money that they have, he says a short goodbye to them as he puts his fingers to his forehead.

He doesn't mind his dad going just like that, because he will be back anyway. His dad will be gone for a while, and it will just be him and his mom, but when his dad gets back, they'll get back to that special way of being a family. In the meantime, he will just be alone with his mom. Sometimes, he'll go shopping with her. Sometimes, he'll sleep in her bed, when he doesn't feel too good. And sometimes, when she tells him that she misses his dad, he'll cheer her up, until his dad comes back and they can both make her laugh for no reason. He knows that he's definitely fine with their family the way it is.

'Oh, Goten…' his mom says his name.

'Huh?'

'Can you imagine the amount of money we'll have to live on for years, when I invest half of this like I always do?'

He doesn't know what she's asking, but he guesses that it's a good thing. She looks too happy for it to be a bad thing, that 'invest' thing.

* * *

 **Fourteenth,** Appreciative Goku.


	14. Chapter 14

**Fourteenth,** Appreciative Goku.

* * *

Between relieved and glad, Goku can't exactly pick which he is leaning more towards as he pushes the door closed behind him. Having both his feet planted inside the safety of his own wonderful and familiar home, brings with it a relieving sense of unmasking from the identity that he is outside the walls of his home, and at the same time, a cooling shower of gladness washes over him, for the fact that here, he can just let himself be looser than he feels comfortable to be outside.

Despite the house greeting him with visual emptiness of the two people that he wants to see the most, his gladness still stubbornly sticks to him. His gladness refuses to leave him, because where his eyes don't recognise, his sense of feeling lets him know that at least one of the two people, is currently in the house with him. It's through that feeling, that he disregards the clean state of the house, instead allowing his feet to guide him to where his wife's energy is beckoning him.

'Chi-Chi?'

He calls her name when he gets to the bathroom door, even knowing very well that she is inside there. He could just burst in there, taking her by surprise as he does, but he would rather that he gives her a fair warning before he enters. He's not going to wait for her to invite him in, of course, as his hand is already opening the door, but the warning makes the difference that no warning wouldn't.

'Goku, is that you?' her testing voice wonders just as he slips inside the door and closes it behind him.

When he hums his reply, she looks at him in the mirror, instead of looking behind her. In the mirror, when their eyes meet, she faintly smiles at him, and that is all the sign that he needs to step over to her and hug her from the back.

'I'm home,' he says, placing his chin on her shoulder, while his arms go around her front.

'Welcome home, Honey,' she softly replies, 'but please get your arms from around me. Can't you see what I am doing?'

He only lets her go, because she asks him to, but he still looks at her in the mirror. In the mirror, is where he sees foam under both of her armpits, something he hadn't seen before. He clearly saw that she was naked when he entered the bathroom just now, but he failed to see why she was naked. His head immediately went to her getting ready to take a bath, but now taking into account that she's standing in front of the mirror with foam under her armpits, he immediately knows what she's doing without seeing the razor that is sure to be in her hand.

'You're shaving,' he states.

'Yes,' she answers, her eyes darting to his in the mirror, and then looking a little lower than his face as she says, 'And now look, you have foam on your clothes.'

Without a care, he shrugs that observation of hers away. It's not like the foam won't come of his clothes anyway.

'I don't care about that.'

'Of course, you don't,' she rolls her eyes. 'But just stand back, please. _I_ don't want you getting foam on your clothes. Unless you plan on shaving me.'

'I don't wanna do that,' he immediately refuses, but he doesn't move back like she asked him to.

Very early in their marriage, he learned that she has grows hair on her body, that she chooses to get rid off by shaving. He's never had to shave, so he could never identify with her on her dislike for shaving, but he's always known that if she dislikes the act so much, he wouldn't like it either. He knows that she does not like shaving, that it takes time, and it's just so annoying for her. She's often told him how she wishes that she never had to shave. He's since gone off on that, and developed a dislike for shaving as well, even though he doesn't ever have to worry about shaving himself. There is no way he's going to help her with shaving.

'So move back,' she half snaps at him with an irritated look on her face in the mirror.

He doesn't want to move back from her either. He wants to be close to her. And anyway, he just got here, what is she irritated at him for? He's not the hair growing out of her, neither did he make that hair grow out of her! She's not being really nice to him.

'Are you not glad to have me back?' he asks, almost sulking the question out, more so because she directs her attention to her armpits again.

'Of course I'm glad to see you back, Honey,' she gently soothes, locking eyes with him in the mirror again, 'but you caught me in the middle of shaving. I hate shaving. You know I do.'

He does know that, but he also knows that he wants her attention now. Would it be so hard to give him some enthusiastic attention? He's finally back home after a period of being away, and the fact that she's not hounding him with wonderful welcoming arms, is making him a little sad.

'Well… Yeah,' he agrees, I know you do, but I just wanna talk to you.'

'Wait until after I take a shower, and you'll have all my attention.'

After she takes a shower? He knows her shaving schedule, usually, after her armpits, she would have to position her legs in strange ways, while she sits on the toilet pot, to shave her private area. After that, she would have to get into the shower to work on her legs, and the process between the mirror, the toilet seat and the shower, is usually long, that he takes a nap on their sofa while she does it.

'Why do I have to wait, why can't you just shave and talk to me at the same time?'

Letting out a frustrated sound enough for him to catch her impatience, she says, 'My gosh, Goku, just let me do what I'm supposed to.'

'You'll take forever,' he whines, a deep disapproving frown on his face.

'Then get out and wait!'

'I'm not doing that! I wanna be here.'

And he does really want to be here with here. He could've gone to one of his friends, or he could've gone right to bed to rest, but he chose to do the one thing that he really wanted. There's nothing stopping him from opening that door and leaving her alone in her, she should know that, but here she is, acting like him wanting to share space with her is not important.

His wife sometimes… He doesn't always want to agree with her.

'So wait in silence,' she tells him. 'It won't kill you.'

Fine, he thinks. If she wants to ignore him, and give her shaving more attention, then fine, he'll let her have that. He'll frown about it and take a hovering cross-legged seat in the air behind her, making sure to keep his sight on the mirror, in case she decides to look at him, but he'll let her be.

* * *

 **26Chapters**

* * *

'Uh…' she starts, her eyes firmly set on him. 'What are you doing?'

'Getting undressed,' he answers, not doing anything to stop his undressing.

It should be clear from the way that he is taking off his clothes, that he is doing just what it looks like he is doing. She maybe a little confused at him folding his clothes and then neatly placing them in a pile on the flower, but that shouldn't be an excuse for her to not really see what he is doing. She shouldn't be confused about a recently acquired habit.

'Why?' she asks, a short suspicious yet not amused laugh following that.

'I'm getting in the shower with you?'

He poses his answer as a question, because suddenly, he feels that he needs to have her permission to join her in the shower. If he already had to hover in the air quietly waiting for her to finish shaving, all the while saying nothing, because she wouldn't have it, he realises now, that it's almost certain that she won't allow him the freedom of joining her.

'You're not going to hinder me,' she warns, which is really her way of telling him that he can join her.

'I won't,' he promises.

The look that crosses her face, is enough of a last warning that he better not do anything to bother her, right before she asks him to pass him the shaving cream to start on her legs. Once he does, she applies some of it to her left leg, and he fully steps into the shower. Although he has to carefully get around her to turn on the water, he manages it, and she even moves back into the corner, to make room for him to get under the spray of water. As she begins to shave her leg, he thoroughly wets his body under the showerhead, being careful not to wet his hair.

'I need to rinse my leg,' she tells him after some time, and he moves aside to let her under the water.

Immediately, a surprised yelp sounds in the confine of the shower, and she jumps away from the spray of the water, pulling her body back as far as her jump will allow.

'The water's too hot,' she complains to him. 'Change it.'

Oops. He forgot that she doesn't like steaming water like he does. He would snicker at the humour in the response, if didn't know that doing such a thing, would get him thrown out of there before he can think to apologise to her about it. So, quite quickly, with the mind not to hinder her shower process as she warned him, he adjusts the temperature to how she likes it, and gestures for her to step into the falling drops again.

After rinsing her leg clean, she moves out of the way to start on her shaving right leg. He finds that the water temperature too Chi-Chi friendly for him, so he turns off the cold water, for just the hot jets to touch his skin. A long 'aaah' sound of satisfaction leaves him, that same satisfaction making him close his eyes in thankful bliss. He loses himself in the luxury of simply basking under burning liquid, especially since the scalding effect feels to be reaching right in the centre of his muscles.

'Goku,' his wife's voice pierces through his basking, 'I can't see with all the vapour in here.'

Sighing, both because he's saddened to be ending his luxury cascade of hotness, and that he's somewhat satisfied with what he got so far, he firstly turns the tepid again and then only moves out of the way. A silent moment of waiting for the vapour to clear passes in the shower, and while the vapour clears, he crosses his arms to watch her finish shaving the last leg. Finally, when she rinses her other leg and puts her shaving tools away, he uses the free chance to pee in the shower. She looks at him now, but says nothing, and the only reason that he successfully gets away with doing that, is that the water is still running between them.

'You didn't soap your body, why?' she wants to know, running her eyes down the length of his shimmering body.

Shrugging, he nonchalantly tells her that, 'I'm not dirty.'

And he really isn't dirty. He took a bath this morning, after his chores were finished. He is only in the shower now, because he grew tired of waiting for her finish. He couldn't join in on her shaving, but showering together is something that he has done with her before. Also, despite not being always perfectly wonderful to share a showering cubicle with another person, the free intimacy behind the act, is something of the little things that he values within married life. Bath time with any member of his family, in fact, no matter how boring it may seem, has always been something of an indulgent luxury for his. Just one of those highly satisfying things to do in the world.

'Hmpf,' Chi-Chi responds to his answer, adding, 'And you didn't wash your hair, why?'

To that question, he only snickers, not even trying to muffle the annoying sound. He wants her to know, without him saying it aloud, that he has no intention of washing his hair for at least another two weeks. Unless she is offering to do it, of course, because the whole shampooing and conditioning process that goes with washing his hair, is one that he can happily do without when it comes when it comes to washing his hair.

'You're hopeless,' she disapprovingly comments as her hands reach for the shampoo perched on the stand close to him.

To help her, he gets the shampoo for her, twisting his arm a little bit, to have it in the right angle to retrieve it, and then corrects the posture of his arm to hand it to her. He doesn't feel like a he did anything with by doing that, and yet his wife is now looking at his forearm like it made the grave mistake of assisting her when she didn't want assistance. It's almost like her eyes are looking at a demonic limb, separate from the rest of this body.

'What is it?'

He's asking, because if he offended her by handing her shampoo that she had already been reaching for, he is going to apologise for it.

'That's new,' she inclines her head, because her hands are now busy lathering her hair with shampoo, after she has replaced the shampoo.

'What's new?'

'That red mark on your arm.'

Red mark? Lifting his arm to chest height and then rotating for a better view, he looks at his arm to see this mark for himself. Upon seeing it, a very brief and yet painful memory of how he got that mark, comes to his mind, reminding that it did in fact not go away like he had hoped it would.

'Oh, this,' he replies a little sadly. 'It's from the housework.'

Had the mark been a remnant of the intense training conducted by Whis, he wouldn't have so much of a problem with it showing on his skin, but since the mark is the result of an accidental iron burn when he'd been ironing three days ago, he feels a little hostile towards it.

'Housework?' she splutters, the disbelief evident in her delivery.

'Yeah,' he shrugs, moving closer to the showering water. 'Me and Vegeta do it every day back at Lord Beerus'. It was Whis' idea.'

He swears, he goes right back to thinking that he has another demon part on him, specifically his entire head, because the look directed towards him, is way past the stage of disbelief. Not only that, but the frozen hands in her hair and the wide eyes glaring like headlights at him, also contribute to him feeling like he has a demon's head instead of his own.

'So let me get this right…' she recovers enough to say. 'This Whis can get you to do housework, and I can't even get you to take your plate to the sink? Should I start dressing up as this Whis, to get you to help me with chores?'

Chi-Chi dressed as Whis?

There's an image he hasn't ever had in his mind of her before.

Chi-Chi in Whis' attire…

Hmm, that would be interesting.

A long-sleeved maroon, or is a red purple robe touching her body? Yes, absolutely, yes! But he would much rather the colour of the robe be a purple shade closer to blue; more purple than blue obviously, but there should be some trace blue within the purple. She'd look beautiful that way, doing the colour a priceless service, even. With her hair down to her back, but finely held together at the bottom of her neck by a small golden yellow tie, a colour to match the pointed end of her staff, and her fringe free to frame her small forehead, she'd look breathtaking. Her eyes would definitely be visible and appealing, thanks to the styling of her hair, and probably the deep red earrings on either side too. Oh yes, he can see her now. The purple material of the robe would cover her neck completely, only, when it reaches her breasts, it wouldn't flat lie against her chest, it would rather follow around the shape of her breasts, outlining them clearly, and quite seriously, doing a material a luxurious favour.

His Chi-Chi in angel wear.

Now there's a beautiful world wonder if there is to be another one.

Her amazing facial beauty would make the whole uniform glow. He swears, his wife would make the dark robe and its complimentary adornment of the godly emblem, seem embossed for being touched by her delicately toned skin and pale complexion. Where the robe would cling to her arms, significant highlight would be seen. Even her mostly hidden legs would embrace the tightness of the material, right down the cleanly polished white shoes, in a way that appreciating her beauty for an eternity, would be the most ideal thing for anyone with eyes to see. He can't seem to imagine her the halo around her neck, though, because he feels that a light blue skin colour should go along with a halo ring. Still, she would easily be passable as an angel, except more exceptional than all the other angels. The staff in her hand, gripped with loving precision, would probably be yielding to her tuned authority, despite its lacking animation. She would look splendid in angel attire, to the point where he wouldn't be able to deny her anything.

But wait… If he's thinking that, then how many others would share the same thoughts?

Uh… No, he doesn't think that Chi-Chi in angel wear would be interesting, after all.

He suddenly doesn't want to imagine her like that anymore. He prefers her as she is. For his eased mind.

'No,' he forcefully says, doing so more to effectively shut down his own thoughts. 'Don't dress up like Whis. Whis only tells us to clean, because it's our train 'It's payment for our training.'

At his explanation, her surprise softens, leaving her a rather softly dissatisfied expression on her face, but even so, she slowly goes back to working the shampoo into her hair and scalp.

'I still can't believe that _you_ did housework,' she murmurs, making it seem that she is talking about something to do with her hands in her hair, than about him.

'I did,' he confirms, 'and it's tiring. Lord Beerus doesn't even thank us for it. He just goes around making a mess, and then we have to clean it up. At least Whis says thank you when we finish our chores. And he trains us, so that's enough for me.'

Chi-Chi doesn't immediately say anything to him. Her focus for a little bit, is to get under the running water, tilt her head back and wash the shampoo from her hair. Something about him watching her rinsing her hair, has always touched him in a way that he can't explain. Even now, he finds himself forgetting that he expects her to say something of support against Lord Beerus, because he finds it really nice to watch her rinse her hair. Once she is finished with that, her hands reach out to turn the water off, and then only faces him to chuckle in his face.

'You want Lord Beerus to appreciate what you do for him, when you are getting payment for it?' she asks him.

'It would be nice to hear,' he confirms. 'Just to know I'm appreciated and what I do.'

His cleaning may be payment for training, but Whis shows his appreciation to both him and Vegeta, so why can't Lord Beerus do the same. He always acts like the mess that he makes, magically disappears, when it's really him and Vegeta who take care of it. Would it cost him his precious destruction powers to say a small word of appreciation just once?

'If you had a job, you wouldn't seriously expect the boss to thank you for doing what is your duty to do, would you?' she asks him, placing her hands on her hips.

'My boss could just say thank you,' he darkly mumbles, not quite agreeing with her.

From the way that she is smiling and shaking her head, Chi-Chi apparently doesn't agree with him either.

'Pass me the conditioner, please,' she requests, and when he gives it to, she tells him something about appreciation.

'It usually works like this,' she begins, at the same time beginning to apply conditioner into her hair. 'When you do something that isn't expected of you, something that you don't want anything in return for, then you'll finely be appreciated. I mean when you eat for example, you don't think about how I took time dicing the onions, peeling the tomatoes if I have to, and continuously stirring the sauce so that it doesn't clot, you just eat. I don't expect you to appreciate me for spending on those tiny details that make up the flavour of the food, but I do it anyway. Or when you find all of your clothes clean, and the house in order, I don't expect you to appreciate me all the time, because the payment I get in return is what I value.'

If she meant to make him see that appreciation isn't needed, she did the total opposite by using herself as an example. What she actually did, is light a quiet guilt inside of him for one, complaining about Lord Beerus' lack of appreciation, when he practically is the same way at home, and two, not always telling his wife that he appreciates her for being in his life, considering everything that he fails to do at times. It's out of _that_ guilt, that his next words come out an apologetic sentence of guilt.

'I don't pay you to do housework.'

'No, you don't,' she quickly surveys him before giving him the conditioner bottle to put back in place, 'but knowing that I'm properly taking care of my family is what's valuable to me.'

She says that, and even still he feels guilty.

At Lord Beerus', he had to do everything there, for himself and for lord Beerus and Whis. Everything that Chi-Chi does for him here and home, he did for Lord Beerus and Whis. He made tea. He swept. He mopped. He dusted. He made up the beds. He watered the plants. He made sure that the tree house was always presentable. He did laundry. He did the dishes. Basically, he did everything he had to, to earn his way to training, and yet he complains about receiving no appreciation. While here is Chi-Chi on the other hand, his wife who does all that he did at Lord Beerus', for absolutely free, for no payment at all, but he's never once heard her complaining to him about it.

She's right, he realises, his complaint against is nothing compared to the appreciation that is due to her from him.

He also realises that just saying the words to her now, will not be that much of a significant declaration, since it will feel like a by-product of their conversation. He feels appreciation for her now. Oh, he feels it oh so much. All the appreciation that he yearned to get from Lord Beerus, he effortlessly converts into reverse appreciation for his wonderful wife. Although he's fully aware that he can't transfer all that appreciation to her right now, right here in the shower, where they are simply having a normal shower while conversing. If he wants his appreciation to translate all the way to the last cell of her heart, and it stays there even after he has died, he will have to work longer and more thoughtfully than just a simple word.

It's like training really, when he thinks about it. Strength doesn't immediately set in after one meaningful session, only after a continued and consistent regime or schedule, does strength find a way to latch into the system in ways that cannot be ripped out. In short, for now, he will simply start with a small start, a little word, that will begin a careful series of events to assure her of his appreciation of her. If only he knew what that small start should be.

Thinking about what to do as a starter, he watches her turn the water back on and step under the water as she did the last time with the shampoo. Seriously, all that comes to his mind, is how she doesn't shove him with the importance of her role in the family, when she really is the most important one. Towards him, she doesn't behave like the pillar of the house that she really is, she in fact, makes it seem that she's the small role in their entire family, and he is the centre of it, almost silently displaying that they wouldn't get on in life without him. That is how important and needed she makes him. It's pretty clear that she _can_ survive without him, that she would make it on her own without him, and yet, she _never_ makes him feel anything other than needed.

Oh man, he can't think of anything to show his appreciation.

He might as well just settle for telling her the words for now, he guesses.

It's not his ideal starter, but what else can he do?

With that in mind, he waits until she has safely rinsed the conditioner from her hair, to then only turn off all of the hot water, leaving the cold running. With her eyes closed, and still occupied with taking a few extra seconds to enjoy water running through her hair, she doesn't immediately notice the change in the water's temperature.

He'll wait.

He'll wait for her body to recognise the shift in the water temperature, because then, she'll be forced to jump away from the cold of the water and right into his waiting arms, where he will embrace her to deliver his verbal appreciation for her. Three simple words he will say to her, simply letting her know that he appreciates her, focusing specifically on using the word 'appreciate', but with his arms around her, and the cold water behind her making sure that she doesn't pull out of his embrace soon, it should be something of a decent starter to his gradual appreciation series.

* * *

 **Fifteenth,** Vulnerable Goku.


	15. Chapter 15

**Fifteenth,** Vulnerable Goku.

* * *

Now only, because his heart is tightly pushing together at the sight before him, causing the deepest feeling of internal discomfort, does Goku realise what a mistake it was to turn on the lights when he came in the room. In his achingly desperate need to be next to her, and then fully reveal himself to her, even at this late time of the night, he believed that the various rays of light coming into the bedroom from the outside city lights, wouldn't have been enough to guide him to her.

He had been wrong.

He _feels_ that now.

Darn it, he should've trusted the open curtains were allowing enough light into the room, to illuminate the room just enough to see her. Had he done that, he wouldn't be feeling the effects of looking at the sleeping form of his wife, neither would he be experiencing the hard squeezing of his heart, uncaring of the damage it's causing him, as it results in the difficulty to properly control his breathing. He wonders why he is even fighting the impulse to fall onto his knees in shattered defeat, when physical stability hasn't done anything to soothe the current effects.

If only he hadn't turned on the light, then his eyes wouldn't be seeing her soundly sleeping figure clearly.

 _(He never would've thought that the full and clear presence of light, leaving no place untouched, defeating darkness in the process, could be a suffocating thing; creeping into his body, to fiercely clutch his kinetic ability. At this moment, he prefers the darkness.)_

If only his eyes couldn't see with clarity, then his soul wouldn't be deeply longing even for her to awaken.

 _(He never would've thought that the gift of unhindered sight, the perfect power of his eyes being able to recognise familiar from the unfamiliar, could be a burdensome disadvantage; failing to filter what returns to his understanding and heart. For now, he prefers not to see.)_

If only he didn't need her, but it's that he does, and the sight of her sleeping, completely unavailable for him to have, is compressing him into despair.

He feels –he swears this is exactly how he feels- like he is eternally separated from her, with his eyes seeing her, and then provoking his heart to want. His heart, in turn greedily instructs his hands to reach out and touch her, to remove her from the sleep that is keeping her away from him. His hands, however, know how unfair it would be to wake her, and so they only tremble midway to reaching her figure, that way opposing the heart's will.

Harshly responding to the opposition, to the refused command, his hearts takes on the protest of threat, to stop beating if his hands don't get her awake. He is here. Wanting and needing her, he is here, but it's like he's looking at a snug blanket on the other side of a thickly transparent glass, while being attacked by the harsh cold on this side, and not being able to reach it.

It's despairing.

Especially to his slowing heart, pretending to be on the verge of giving up, (when the very solid reason to not do such a thing, is right in front of him) the despair is biting. Would it really, be so unfair to pull her from sleep? To see her open her eyes? To hear her say his name with concern? And then hear her ask him what the matter is? Why he felt that it was so important to take her from the safety of being unaware of her own body and feelings? Would it be so wrong to do something that selfish, with the expectation of getting her comfort, so he wouldn't feel so isolated and trapped inside his feelings?

 _Chi-Chi_...

His heart weakly cries for her attention, as his hands just as weakly drop back down to his sides. He's strongly willing her sound soul to hear his silent cry. Somewhere in the quiet and calm place, where she is, in the stillness keeping her asleep, he needs his call to drift through, and then alert her of his need for her;

His need to explain in distressing detail, how today, after the long week that they as a family have been through –mainly losing their home and comfort to invade Gohan and Videl's home- it took him sitting on the roof alongside Piccolo, holding a tiny and happy Pan in one of his hands and admitting that he couldn't have saved her from trouble earlier, to make him aware of the fact that without his strength, he is nothing. Nothing at all.

He sat there on the roof, unable to confide in Piccolo about his fears, and definitely not being able to frown, for fear of ruining Pan's mood, just silently holding in his breakdown, painfully waiting for the moment when he could go down from that roof, to her. And when he got to their temporary room, he'd been in such a relieved yet desperate hurry to expose himself to her, that he made the stupid mistake of turning on the light, only to feel more alone.

In his haste to get to her, he didn't once consider that she's a parent, that she gets tired, and that she would be fast asleep, completely cut off from his access when he finally needed her.

* * *

 **Sixteenth,** Disclosing Goku.


	16. Chapter 16

**Sixteenth,** Disclosing Goku.

* * *

To find Goku awake before her this morning, is strange enough for Chi-Chi, but to add onto that, that he is rigidly lying on his back with face turned up to the ceiling, and his eyes blankly staring the white of it, makes it something of a concern for her. More concerning still, is how his clothes, mostly orange with a small touch of blue down his chest, are still on him, and his face doesn't give away the look of someone coming from sleep.

Did he just _now_ get into bed?

That's the immediate question that surfaces in her head, upon observing her husband on the other side of Goten. She remembers her and Goten climbing into bed last night, and almost immediately falling asleep together –she, a little after Goten, most likely, because she doesn't remember more after counting ten of his sleeping breaths,- but she can't bring to memory anything about Goku coming to join them in bed.

'Morning,' she says, partly waiting to test his response for fresh-from-sleep signs.

'Morni,' he mumbles his response.

An incomplete word, a low mumble, and nothing of an effort to face her, are all signs that he's in morning mode, which in turn means that he slept, however, she cannot shake the feeling that she is missing something with him. There's apparently evidence that he didn't _just_ come to bed some time ago, but, the evidence isn't enough for her to stop feeling that she has a reason to be concerned about her husband's state of dress and posture.

'What's wrong with you?' her concern wants to know, tuning to rest on her side and look at him properly. 'You don't look like you slept.'

'I slept.'

All right, he slept, she thinks, feeling herself automatically frown at the same time, so why does his short, serious answer feel heavy to hear? Somewhere in the canal of her ears, why does it feel like those two words force to squeeze through, and then land with a weighted thud? He says that he has slept, and he is not a man to lie about sleep, but just how much sleep did he really get? She needs to find that out, if she is to piece his 'behaviour' this morning, into a picture that she can see clearly.

'When did you come to bed?'

'Hmmm,' he replies.

Not yet irritated, because a hum doesn't answer her question, Chi-Chi takes a small amount of time, to look at Goten between them, allowing him enough time to remember what he can about coming to bed last night.

'Goku?' she presses for a better after the time has passed.

Her eyes, she still keeps on Goten, but her ears are perfectly attentive to Goku's pending answer. Whatever tone he will use, she will be able to catch it with trained precision, even if she can't see his facial expression.

'Last night,' he dryly answers. 'You were asleep.'

Guilt has a way of making a person feel like their sins are visible to everyone, and words said to a guilty person, have this way of sounding accusatory, but she is _not_ guilty. She's not guilty of doing anything wrong, and yet, his last sentence sounded like a grudge coming from him. His words roughly pulled her eyes away from the peaceful face of her son, and turned her face directly to him, because they made her feel like she was in the wrong for going to bed early.

After all the day's stressing of the yesterday, after all the planning that she had to do concerning their house that needs to be reconstructed from the ground up, after watching an energetic Pan, and keeping Goten stable, she'd simply wanted to sleep, and it's not fair for him to make her feel bad, if all he wanted was probably to cuddle. She won't allow him to make her feel guilty for sleeping before him for once.

'I was tired,' she tells him defensively.

In a fast instant, Goku gets off his back to sit upright, and then sharply turns to her. That action surprises her, more so, because there's something on his face, which she cannot translate. The only thing it does to her, (apart from making her rise from her resting position) is remind her that he never did answer her first question, about what is wrong with him.

'I needed to talk to you,' he stresses, making that sound like an accusation as well.

Not at all appreciating his look and tone in competing measures, a mix of irritation and impatience starts to bubble within her. On the rings of her ears, a low set fire begins to develop, slowly creeping past her ears down to her neck, to make her feel uncomfortable.

'I was tired,' she irritably cries, and just to be clear on why she was tired, she decides to list him all the things that tired her yesterday. 'The man doing the plumbing wants to make a few changes at home. The builders seemed to have a problem with their employer, and so I had to handle that. Did you know that Goten had to make an art project yesterday, Goku? Did you see us gathering twigs and collecting sand to build a model park, with sand grains, and a tree with a tree house, using only glue and tape? Pan is full of energy too, did you know that? Yesterday was a long day, Goku. _I was tired_.'

'I needed you,' he strongly maintains, and then suddenly looks away from her, the way she'd seen an teenaged and angry Gohan, do in the past.

Ugh! How dare he make her feel like she neglected him in his time of need?! And so early in the morning, at that! If he insists on doing that, then she will fire back at him, to _please repeat,_ word by word to her, when and where during the day of yesterday, she told him to call on her any time of the day and night, and she would immediately be available to cater to him! Also, does he have to make it appear like she had been absent, when all she was, happened to be asleep?

'I was here,' she defends herself from what she feels like is an attack, 'and I was tired. Remember all the times when I needed you, and you were off somewhere in space, having who knows what kind of fun! I've learned how to deal with needing an absent person, so don't you be a baby about it!'

On second thought, though, Chi-Chi realises after she finishes delivering her bitter argument, if he wants to be a baby, then fine, he can be a baby. However, he shouldn't expect that she will stay in bed with him, and endure his accusations delivered through untranslatable look, because she will do no such thing! He has already turned her concern into irritation, and her guess is, if she continues to hear him accuse her of not being available when he needed her, she's migrate to the land of fury. And there, she promises that he will _not_ like her to be!

It's in that frame of mind, that she abruptly swings out of bed and begins to tie her hair into its usual bun, the second that her feet touch the ground. So much for thinking to lag in bed a little longer this morning, if only to make up for the stress that the telephone calls aroused in her yesterday. Now that's all gone, thanks to that one on her left side.

Seriously!

She has better things to do, than argue with him anyway. Not only that, Goten must be near to waking up, and she will not allow him to catch them in the middle of an argument, and also, Pan must be awake by now. She will need her food soon, and more important is feeding the baby of her son, than entertaining the baby that her husband is being.

A little furiously, she makes her way over to Pan's crib, which is a little way from the bed. With Piccolo's insistent blessing, she and Goku decided that while they are here at Gohan and Videl's house, Pan might as well sleep in their room, just like Goten does, and so far, it hasn't caused them any problems. When she reaches the crib, she expectantly starts to look into the crib, preparing a smiling face to greet her only granddaughter, only to discover it empty.

'Pan?' she calls out to the empty crib.

She can clearly see that Pan is nowhere inside the crib, but the human mind is a funny thing, even when presented with clear evidence that something is amiss, it still clings onto the hope that what it wants to perceive will come to be as it will. Many times in the past, she opened the fridge, knowing very well that her husband ate the last slice of some delicious desert, but still looked to see if there was desert in there, only because accepting that there was nothing in there, would mean shattering the expectation that she had, and that would in turn lead to either frustration, or disappointment.

In this case with Pan, she doesn't want to believe that Pan is gone, despite seeing no Pan in the crib, because when she turns to her right and left, and then behind her to the shut door, there's no reason to be found, suggesting that something happened to Pan. The room's not a mess, to at least maybe say that someone took her by force. Piccolo would never dare to enter their room without knocking, so he couldn't have been the one to take her either. With all that in mind, it's not easy for her to accept that Pan won't make a happy responsive sound to the call of her name, the way she usually does.

'Pan?' again comes out of her mouth, but still no sound meets her call, except maybe for the bubbling sound of fear in her heart.

Fear, of the full kind, that is way past panic and disturbance, she's felt in immeasurable quantities before. She's had cold, quite gripping experiences with the way it slithers through the logic of the mind, hungrily eating away at all reason, before it unapologetically slides down to the core of the soul, to decay all positive feelings of optimism, and leave the hollowness of despair as a replacement.

That's one of the worst things anyone can feel in their lives, and if she were to feel fear now, that full kind of fear, it would be a disservice to her son and his family. She should try her best to push out the faint sound of fear within her heart, before it reaches her brain, and that way keep her reasoning mind. With a reasoning mind, she will be able to think and perhaps trace Pan's steps.

'Goku?' she calls, choosing to use the safety of his presence to block fear from overtaking her. 'Goku, Pan's not in her crib,' she tells him as calmly as she can, being under slight panic.

* * *

 **26Chapters**

* * *

Is he meditating on the roof?

She came out here, because she would have liked to talk to him, but if he's meditating up there, she will let him be. After their small argument this morning, and then discovering that Pan was nowhere inside the house, just to be yelled at like two little children by Piccolo, it is only fitting that he is up there recollecting himself.

He more than the rest of them, seemed more distraught by Pan's disappearance when they were looking for her. She even heard him cry out 'Pan's' like wherever Pan was, she was in deep pain, and he could feel it with her, and so was letting the world know how Pan felt. She remembers having to clutch onto the item nearest to her when she heard him make that sound, because it sounded like his physical body was feeling the pain.

After the stress of looking for Pan all over and not finding her, got to all of them, especially once they found her sound asleep on the sofa, just before her parents returned. It had been a high emotion period in those consecutive moments for all of them, between relief for finding Pan, surprise that Videl and Gohan came back early, and then passing fear that had they returned earlier to find their daughter missing, they would've been upset, she wasn't sure if she could've have taken anything else. But then they learned that Gohan had turned down his job, and she saw how disappointed Goku looked at the announcement of the news.

Not many people would've noticed the way that his face fell for a moment, but then, Goku didn't look at many people when that happened, he looked at her, and she saw his own disappointment, before she expressed her own. It had been quite the contrasting difference between the light that shone on his face when Pan called him Grandpa, because the shine left his face. Taking all that into consideration, she can understand why he would need to be up on the roof meditating. He must have gone from emotion to emotion, without really taking all of her emotions in as well as she should have.

To leave him in peace until a later time, she turns her back on where he is and begins to walk back into the house. Not more than three steps away from where she had stood, Goku suddenly appears in front of her, and they nearly collide into each other, but she moves fast to redirect her step to the side instead of going forwards.

'Careful,' she warns as she properly regains her disturbed balance.

It's in quick, unexpected situations like these, that she mentally thanks herself for having a physical family, that keeps her somewhat prepared in the form of reflexes. Had she not been trained, they would be one atop the other on the ground right now.

'Sorry,' he apologises. 'I want you to come on the roof with me.'

'You're going to fly?'

She's asking, because since their house broke down, he hasn't been flying. Yes, she knows that he fly up there, but too much flying could be a bad thing for him.

'I'm not supposed to,' he admits. 'King Kai said I should rest if I want to heal, but it's not far up.'

Refusing his proposal doesn't even cross her mind, because she wanted to talk to him anyway, so she takes steps closer into him, for him to put his arm around her. Smiling down at her, he puts both of his arms around her, as if to make her feel how strong he is, even when sick. After that, he lifts them off the ground and they go up the roof.

Upon landing, and then him setting her into a sitting position next to him, the view that she finds waiting for her there, makes her mentally put on hold what she came to say to him. It looks amazing from up here, and if he is resting by being up here, not actually meditating like she had thought, she can now see why it's appealing to him.

'This is beautiful,' she says, looking at him next to her.

'Yeah,' he agrees by nodding his head. 'I was up here with Pan and Piccolo last night. It was nice.'

Laughing in a little disbelief, she tilts her hear to look at him better. ' _Nice_? The view must've been beautiful last night.'

'Maybe,' he shrugs. 'I didn't really notice. I was thinking about some things.'

If one of those things that he had been thinking about is home, then she has some news for him.

'We'll be home in three days,' she tells him. 'We all miss home.'

He looks at her to answer that, 'It's not that. I don't even know if I'm allowed to miss home.'

She doesn't understand what he means by that, so she confirms it to him that it's only natural that he misses him just as much as she and Goten do. While yes, Gohan's home is lovely, and they have freedom to move around as they please, this place isn't home, and none of them should be expected to not miss home just because they have moved into better conditions.

'I destroyed our home,' he explains what he means, 'that's why I shouldn't be allowed to miss home.'

Something about this is not right.

It looks like Goku, it even sounds and smells like Goku next to her, but really, who is this guy? It's not her Goku, apparently. She's never heard her Goku speak his thoughts like that, in the trail of punishing himself. Her Goku is the biggest believer of forgiveness, and most importantly, what happens after that forgiveness. This guy apparently has nothing to share in those kinds of thoughts, he just some random man sitting on the roof with her. He can't be Goku.

'Goku?'

'Hmm?'

It's just as well that he looks at her fully, because it gives her a chance to reach out and touch his forehead, and then his cheeks, to lastly rest her hands on his next. She feels no fever on him, and he just silently looking at her, unmoving and waiting for her to make the next move, so he is probably not feeling unlike himself, but…

'Kiss me,' she says to test him, because the presented reality and what she's thinking at the moment, are not the same things.

Pulling a puzzled face, he asks, 'Now?' but he still leans in to peck her on the lips, and once he does, he leans his head back, asking, 'Like that?'

Well, yeah... Like that.

 _That_ is exactly what she means, she guesses. The Goku she knows, would've at least given her an excuse of people being able to see them kissing on the roof, but he just went ahead and kissed her? That's odd.

'Goku...' she carefully speaks with concern. 'Are you feeling well?'

'Because I kissed you?' he laughs nervously.

'That too,' she nods, 'but you're acting strange. Is it because of this morning?'

Truthfully, other than this morning when they couldn't get on the same page as each other, she can't think of anything that might have pushed him to acting like this.

'Not really,' he answers, turning his face away from her. 'It was last night that I needed you the most. I think I just needed you to listen to me. I felt at my lowest.'

At least this time, he doesn't sound like he is accusing her for not being awake when he needed her, but on the hand, the fact that he's not accusing her, makes her feel bad that she hadn't been awake when he needed her.

'It felt like you were locked away from me,' he smiles only half-heartedly. 'I could see you, and I knew you were there, but I just couldn't reach you, because you were sleeping. It wasn't nice. I just needed you the most.'

'Why didn't you wake me?'

If he had felt so separated from her, why didn't he just wake her? She wouldn't have been happy to wake up, that's for sure, but if he needed her, she would've understood his reasoning. Far too well, she knows what it's like to need him and not have him there, to not attend to him in his time of need, no matter the hour.

'I couldn't,' he replies, sharply turning to her. 'You never go to sleep before me, so I knew that I couldn't wake you. I wanted to wake you so much, Chi-Chi. You don't understand.'

'I'm sorry,' she apologises.

It won't do any good now to apologise, but she means it and she feels it, so saying it is best. To be in a position where he needed her so badly that he struggled with himself on whether or not to wake her, is something worth an apology from her. While it will do no erasure of what happened, it should be something sincere that he should hear.

'It wasn't your fault,' he says, softly bumping his shoulder into hers to brush the importance off. 'I was the one who went overboard with the Kaio Ken, so it's my fault what I'm going through. I was actually thinking about it today... If I am suffering from the consequences of my decisions and actions, what do _you_ have to do with it?'

'How can you say that?' she gasps, partly wishing that she could just deck him for his crass disregard for himself. 'I care about you.'

Still, untouched by her mild aggression, Goku shrugs. He has the guts to look her in the eyes and make it seem like that shouldn't matter when it does.

'But you aren't responsible for making me fine,' he says.

All right, firstly, if he believes that, why had he wanted to wake her last night? And secondly, where is all this _coming_ from? She wants to know where his feelings of self-loathing and inadequacy growing from. What root do such things have inside of him, that they are shooting up like this within him?

'Goku…' she starts, wanting to tell him that he is scaring her but, but she changes her mind to rather ask, 'Why are you talking like this?'

'I feel useless, that's why,' he flatly says. 'Now that I'm resting, and I'm sick, I really feel how _useless_ I am. Without my strength, I'm nothing, aren't I, Chi-Chi?'

Could he bore deeper into her eyes, seeking for confirmation from her? She means, if he is going for making her heart swirl in ways that it has no place swirling, more than it already is, could he try to be more flat and casual about asking that from her?

For the love of life, how in the world did he come to that conclusion?

Trying to think of a way to make him understand that although his strength makes up for a big part of who he is and why she loves him, but it's not his only worth to her, Chi-Chi studies him. But at that moment, unfortunately, she sees Goten's hand close over Goku's eyes.

'Guess who, Dad.'

Despite not wanting to, Chi-Chi allows a faint smile to show on her face, because Goten's silliness deserves at least that. She can't tell if he intended to give himself away by saying, 'Dad' and not changing his voice, but either way, it's a little endearing. He has no clue that he just interrupted something bleak in conversation, and in a light way; relieving, almost –not quite, though.

Goku smiles, lifting his hand to remove Goten's hands from his eyes, but Goten uses that to climb on his back and wrap his arms around his father's neck. The wonder of a child to not know the heaviness that parents really have to deal with.

'Goten, we were talking,' she tells him.

'Mr. Satan brought a lot of food for Gohan,' Goten tells her and then turns to close to his father's ear. 'It's time for lunch.'

'Right now?' Goku asks.

'Right now. There's a lot of food,' Goten confirms.

'Okay, let's go.'

Wow, their talk is interrupted. She hopes that they can talk later, this she will not let go, because she is confused. When there's confusion, it's because the clear picture is not given, only a fraction is given, and the entire picture has to be given to make sense.

* * *

 **26Chapters**

* * *

'I found you.'

Remembering what happened earlier, how they nearly collided into each other, she remains as she is at the sound of Goku's voice behind her. Even though she wants to face him, she still keeps on poking the coal around, to spread the warmth around the entire surface of the barbeque stand.

'You found me,' she agrees with a small nod.

With Gohan, Videl, Piccolo, Goten and Pan all inside, being entertained by Hercule and Buu, she wondered if she would find him on the roof like in the afternoon, but it looks like he found her instead. She'd left the house, announcing that she would start on dinner outside, but she also hoped that she would find Goku, and they could carry on with their earlier interrupted talk. It's a good thing that he found her. She wouldn't have liked for them to get to bed without resolving this.

'What's bothering you?' she asks, wanting to get it out before the others get bored inside and decide to join them.

'I don't feel like myself,' his confession sounds in the soft evening air. 'I feel weak and useless. Remember I couldn't even do anything to find Pan this morning? I just feel so weak and ashamed.'

They'll collide if they have to, but she will turn around for this. Whether he is immediately behind her or a step away, nothing will keep her from facing him and attending to him with all of her attention. She does just that, preparing herself to find a broken expression, but that is not exactly what she gets once her eyes are on him. What she finds, is a Goku looking like he is supposed to, holding himself together, (facial expression and body stance all the same) like he is supposed to.

'Oh, Goku,' she softly moans out her sympathy for him.

He's not supposed to keep it together in front of her, when his words are the complete opposite of someone at peace and complete with himself.

'Do I matter without my strength, Chi-Chi?' he asks her, much like he didn't catch her sympathy at all.

'You do matter,' she replies right away, one of her feet stepping closer to him. 'With or without your strength, you _do_ matter.'

'I don't feel like I do,' he calmly confesses. 'When Pan called me Grandpa today, I couldn't even fly high up with her, like I felt like doing.'

She knows what moment he's talking about. Most people might have missed it, but she saw how his face became a wonderland when Pan called him Grandpa in front of all them, emotionally singling him out of everyone in the room. That had been a precious moment for him, which she perfectly caught it on his face, so she can easily understand why he would feel weak for not being able to express himself in the moment.

Although, what she really heard from that confession, is that he feels like someone exposed and vulnerable without what makes him, him. She heard her husband secretly say that his strength is his identity, and without it, there's only shame within him, for having nothing at all to offer those around him. It's not like that, of course, because he does matter, and she needs to assure him of that fact, so that he can believe it.

'You matter,' she repeats, but this time, she reaches her left arm around his right side to provide a base for her affirmation. 'And besides, you haven't lost your strength,' she reminds him. 'You just need to rest for a while. You'll be back in no time.'

He begins to remove himself from her, and then puts some distance between them, only then to argue that, 'That's not the point. Don't you see?'

No, actually, if he's asking, she doesn't see. She sees that he's showing some emotion now, his expression slightly breaking into a look of quiet desperation, but she doesn't see what he's referring to.

'I see that you're being too hard on yourself,' she chooses to say the safer alternative, as opposed to telling him that she doesn't see his point yet.

'No,' he decides to step into her, as if that proximity will get his point across better. 'I want you to understand. You don't understand like I want you to. I don't want you tell me what you think of me, and I don't want your assurances. I don't want to hear you defend me. What good will it do, when I don't have my strength? I just need you to realise that I feel like this.'

'So, I'm supposed to _let_ you ride yourself down, and then agree with you?'

She hears that that's what he wants, because he clearly just said it, but he's frustrating her with such talk. That's not _how_ she wants it to work. She wants to help him heal and get him over this, but apparently, he wants her to put herself in his shoes, and then see things from his point. Apparently, her telling him that he will eventually get better means nothing to him, because right now, he doesn't feel better. He basically just wants her to see what he sees in himself at the moment, so he can feel a sort of validation in her companionship.

'Maybe,' he shrugs like it doesn't matter. 'Maybe you should blame me for destroying our house as well. I don't know. I just don't feel like I deserve to be important to you. Or to anyone.'

He's an idiot, Chi-Chi thinks while looking at him. Her logic is not what he needs, when it's the one path to healing that will work for him. Instead, he wants her to see what he sees in himself, but she can't do that, because that's not how help works.

'I can't blame you.'

Like he can't believe what she's saying to him right now, Goku frowns at her, opening his mouth at the same time, to give her his argument to that statement of hers.

'What about all the times that you needed me and I wasn't there? I know how that feels, you know. It's not a nice feeling. I still remember it even now.'

She's sorry that such a memory, a memory of something emotionally draining is still fresh in his mind, but she can't agree with him. If she agrees with him, she'll only be fuelling his dislike for himself, and then once he recovers, he won't look for her to be his comfort. Instead of seeking her out, he will get into a semi-destructive defence mood, something that will be a sort of revenge for what he couldn't do when he didn't have his strength and her not making him feel better about it. He obviously won't do anything to hurt her physically, she knows, but he will push away from her for not uplifting him when he hated himself. She needs to make him understand that.

'You're asking me for the impossible,' she tells him seriously. 'I want to be here for you and help you, not make you feel worse.'

Shaking his head, possibly telling her what she wants is impossible for him too, he says, 'I don't think you could make me feel better.

'You said you need me last night,' she reminds him, mostly because she doesn't like to hear that she can't do anything for him.

'I needed you last night…' he pauses his speaking to press his front right into hers, and then place his chin on her shoulder.

When he does that, she suddenly gets the feeling that he needs a physical connection to her, so she doesn't waste time in bringing her hand to begin stroking his back, and help deepen the connection that he's looking for. She imagines that he must be closing his eyes by now, allowing her soothing touch to penetrated into him, because that is what she would do in his place.

'I needed you, because I just badly needed you then,' he picks up from where he left, with the difference being the defeated note in his words.

He doesn't need her now? Is it too late for him to need her now? Because if it is-

'I was sitting up there on the roof with Piccolo and Pan last night,' he continues, unknowingly cutting off her thoughts. 'I was telling him how strange it felt to go without training all day. It was strange, because I couldn't train, not because I didn't want to. When I told him that, I realised that I was really good for nothing without my strength. I had Pan in my hands, so small and happy, but I couldn't even fly her up to the sky, and I felt like my heart was getting smaller, Chi-Chi. It was painful. Even when I smiled.'

Not knowing what best to do for him, she stops gently running her hand down his back, to pull them apart, and have a better connection with him, looking into his eyes. Still though, looking into his eyes, she doesn't have a good idea of what to do for him, so she simply looks at him; waiting.

'I don't know if I can make you understand this,' he says, 'but I have all the reasons to be happy and relaxed at home, but I can't be. I was up all night thinking about how everyone likes me even with nothing, when they shouldn't. I don't know if it's right for you all to be worried about me, when I didn't even worry about myself when I made myself sick. I don't want anyone to like me, but I also don't want to feel like this alone. I can't tell anybody else, you're the only one I _can_ tell, and…'

He holds out his hand for her then, and when she takes it, he only looks at it for a moment. While he looks at her hand, she takes the time to study his face. This man that she is looking at, is so different from the man that she's known her entire marriage. She's never known him to feel this confusing and frustrating at the same time, not even after he had recovered from the heart disease that got him all those years ago.

She wants to tell him that he is talking nonsense. She really wants to take his face between her hands, stare him right in the eyes and tell him that he is making rubbish come out his mouth, but she remembers what he already told her. Another thing she has to remember, is that the heart disease had been completely different, and he didn't get time to digest its effects on him after he recovered from it back then.

'And what Goku?' she finally asks when he doesn't speak up on his own.

At the sound of her voice, he lifts his eyes back to her face. Now at least, she's looking into the eyes of her Goku, it's only that she apparently can't cure him. Her comfort through that is at least that he wants her with him.

'Just dislike me for a little bit, Chi-Chi,' he quietly requests. 'That's all I want. It's just better for me to know that you feel the same.'

That's the strangest request, she thinks, her heart pounding at its loudest just once in her heart.

It's abnormal.

It's unhelpful, in her opinion.

It's wholly the opposite of what being there for him should mean.

It makes her hurt for him. So much.

But, this is Goku. He wouldn't ask that if he didn't need it, and if she thinks about it, it's understandable that he doesn't really know the option of wanting a cure, because he has never felt useless like this before. And worse still, useless as a result of a choice that he made against his own wellbeing. He may be asking for her support in the strangest way possible, but even she knows that there are exceptions to every rule, and clearly, Goku's living proof that uncommon behaviour is not impossible in the most unlikely of situations. It's a little funny, actually.

'You're weird,' she says, just then bursting out into soft laughter.

'Sorry,' he goofily, but heartily apologises, also joining in her laughter.

* * *

 **Seventeenth,** Hasty Goku.


	17. Chapter 17

**Seventeenth,** Hasty Goku.

* * *

Unaware that concentrated drops of sweat are decorating her face with the perfect tone of anxiety, those sweat drops displaying her story, without her having to say a word about her state, Chi-Chi pushes her chair out, and then takes to pacing up and down the open passage connecting the living room to the kitchen. Just two seconds before this, she had been focused on evilly eyeing the spilled drink and overturned bowl of crisp cakes on the table, but she soon realised that staring at a mess, that _she_ made when she banged her fist on the table in outrage against Goku being away at King Kai's for training at a time like this, wouldn't make her feel any better.

It doesn't seem like pacing is doing her any good either.

Sitting at a table and watching a mess that she can quickly clear up, is clearly no different from using her legs to keep her body occupied, so the anxiety that she feels doesn't eat her away to weakness. Worry, she still feels. Fear, she still feels. There's absolutely no difference, because while pacing is something that she can control, she's still unbearably itching inside her body. Her lungs, for example, are feeling the effect of the itching of worry and fear, in a way that they are working uncomfortably faster. Breathing in and out, her lungs do as if she is in a sprinting race. Her heart is also reacting to the itching in a fast manner, thudding as a drum chasing infinity would.

Pacing's doing nothing to help her, she decides, but she would be a fool to stop her pacing for something else that will probably have the same useless effect as her two prior attempts. No, she'll keep on with her pacing, even if it does nothing for her.

But why, oh why, did have Goku to be away now of all times?

Why doesn't he have a space communication device, where she could reach?

Why did he have to go to King Kai's anyway?

Up and down she goes, allowing her legs to carry her, as her thoughts switch between Bulma telling her what happened to the boys and questioning why she had to be married to the most unpredictable of men when it comes to his actions, and while her hands do their part as well, clenching and unclenching. One measured step in front of the other, she moves, until the sudden appearance of a solid form stops her in her tracks.

For the first second, both she and the new person freeze in their positions, their eyes taking each other in. During that first second, her anxiety is instantly replaced by a mixture of confusion and curiosity, but as soon as her mind takes it in that the person who just appeared in front of her, is her husband, her anxious feelings return to her body with the same intensity from before. It's only that he reacts to her, before she can react to him.

'Aah!' Goku hastily jumps back from her. 'Chi-Chi! What are _you_ doing here?'

She'd been about to exclaim his name in return, and then follow it with the terrible tale of Goten being stuck in space, only, the accusatory finger pointed at her, plus the stupid, stupid question that just came from his mouth, makes her wonder if he's drunk. Why would he ask her what she's doing here? She _lives_ here, and not only that, this is a good time as any for anyone in her profession to be at home.

'What are _you_ doing here?' she snaps at him, even though she's been wishing for him to appear in front of her.

'Uh…' he starts, giving himself away by momentarily scratching his neck and looking down. 'I just came to get something, that's all.'

'Goten's gone into space with Monaka, and you _only_ came to get something?' she cries, her hands going to hug either side of her waist. 'Don't you care about your son?'

Even before she asked him that question, she knew that it would be an unfair thing to pose, seeing as she wouldn't have known about Goten either, had Bulma not called her, but she's in such a state, that fair and unfair are the same thing to her.

'How did you find out about Goten in space?'

Again with that finger of his towards her. What does it matter how she found out? The point remains that Goten is somewhere in the vast body of space, and until someone rescues him, he will remain there. And in any case, what matters more than her knowing about Goten in space, is why he is here, 'getting something' when he should be rescuing Goten.

'What are you still doing here, then, if you know about Goten?' she wants to know. 'Go and bring my baby home.'

Probably seeing that she is in no mood to play around, Goku reaches out to touch her shoulder then, saying, 'Don't worry, Chi-Chi, Vegeta's there with them. And you said Monaka is with them, so they should be safe.'

Mona-

That weakling? He's the one who her husband is depending on? She _cannot_ –be it whatever-with this man right now, so much so that she shrugs his hand off him and steps to the side to be out of reaching range from him.

'Monaka's _useless_!' she angrily spits.

Infuriatingly, she notes from the colourful picture of his facial expression, he has the audacity to stand there, looking at her fearful state and looked shocked at her revelation. There's no time to give this thought a luxury, but still, she wonders what part of his mind believes that she would be this worried out of her mind, if Monaka was a good reference to scare her monsters away.

'Monaka's the strongest one in our universe,' Goku defends his false saviour, clearly not reading her line of thought as he should be able to do after all these years.

This man, she thinks, breathing out with closed eyes.

She will kill this man, she thinks again, breathing in with her eyes still closed.

If he says one more praising word about that weak delivery man, she thinks for the last time as she prepares herself to look at him, she will definitely kill him.

Slowly, she opens her eyes, feeling that she can trust herself to look at him and not feel the urge to make him as useless as his precious Monaka. She manages to get her eyes all the way open, however, for extra security, for the sake of getting her baby back in one complete piece, she pushes out one last breath and then clamps her hands together to trap her impatience with him, between her palms. Trapped there, she'll surely do nothing to kill him. Hopefully.

'Goku,' she gets out as tamely as she can manage under the circumstances. 'Go and bring my Goten back home!'

'I'm going,' he holds his hands up in surrender. 'It's not like Goten can't take care of himself, anyway.'

This man…

She can't think that in an aggressive way, because that energy she saves for separating her hands and speaking with absolute clarity of intolerance on the matter of Goten being able to take care of himself.

'Oh, no, no, no, Son Goku!' her voice projects as much authority as she could ever have in this house. ' _My_ Goten will _not_ fight some evil lunatic Frieza in space like Gohan had to do at that age!'

'Frieza is dead, Chi-Chi,' he says seriously. 'He's not going to be fighting Goten.'

'Go and bring Goten home now!' she commands, tactfully ignoring his comment, because if she doesn't… 'If you don't go, I _will_.'

'But you don't even know how to do Instant Transmission,' he remarks, his face taking on a puzzled frown. 'How will you get there?'

Once again, she ignores his comment, because she's well aware that if she does something to maim this husband of hers, she might as well start calling funeral parlours.

'Go!' she grits her teeth, pointing her entire left hand towards the door. 'Go now!'

'I will,' he assures her as a small laugh makes its way out of him.

In an instant, triggered by that silly and teasing laugh of his, Chi-Chi closes the space between them and grabs the blue material of his shirt with tightly panted fists, to pull him nose to nose with her.

'This is not a joke, Goku. Bring my baby home, or I will hurt you,' she threatens him with all of her might.

That he can find light in this whole situation, that's he's possibly been teasing her by behaving how he's been behaving, that he's seemingly not worried in the least about Goten being in space, really makes her want to snap all of his bones from their joints, so that maybe he would feel what she feels.

'Okay, okay,' he relents, still laughing the same way as before. 'I'll go. I just came to get a food offering for Lord Beerus and Whis, in case I can't do much for Goten and Trunks. I might have recovered now, but just in case… Anyway, I would've left already if you hadn't attacked me, and made me want to make you a little more upset.'

It's true, she momentarily acknowledges, he does that sometimes. He's good at it most, at times like this, when she gets lost in being so upset over something, that she doesn't realise what he's really doing for his own excitement. He loves her like this, she remembers, and at some other time, she would've been melting into him, altogether falling into a different moment with him, however, right now is just _inappropriate_. She can't get into anything with him, when Goten is in space with a weak and useless man.

'I just really want to kiss you right now,' his nose rubs against her, 'but I have to go for Goten. Can you stay like this until I get him back?'

'Ah,' she spurts out incredulously, and pulls away from him. 'You're unbelievable.'

'I just love getting you like that,' he confesses with the sweetest smile.

'Take me seriously, please,' she sighs.

Atop her emotions of worry and fear, she just wants him to move as hastily as he can, to bring Goten back to her. There's no space within her to find him endearing at a time like this.

'I'll get Goten back, don't worry,' he tells her calmly. 'Even if I lose out on fighting a strong guy, I'll bring him back. I promise.'

After that, he drops a kiss on her lips, and then vanishes. He steals the kiss from her, actually, because had she seen him position himself to kiss her, she would've rightly turned away from him. But hmph! Who does he think he is? He _better_ bring Goten back in no time at all, since-

'He didn't even take the food for those two anymore,' she suddenly remembers. 'Seriously!'

Shaking her head, she goes back to sit at the table, to get back to worrying about her son, and now husband, but with a little more ease, because Goku's gone over there. Oh, she just hopes that they will return to her. She really hopes they do.

* * *

 **Eighteenth,** Bewitching Chi-Chi.


	18. Chapter 18

**Eighteenth,** Bewitching Chi-Chi.

* * *

He had the plan that from his exercise with Vegeta in the mountains, after using most of his stamina in his Blue form, he would quickly head down to the river, to rinse off the sweat, grime, and dust of the exercise, before he made his way home to Chi-Chi and Goten. That had been his plan from the moment that he and Vegeta took the slowly setting sun as a sign for them to end their training, but because the gods –all of them, from Dende to Zeno- are _literally_ his friends, they made it so that he caught Chi-Chi _just_ at the right time.

Here he is at the river like he had planned it out, but where he should be taking his clothes off and diving into the cool evening water, he's silently looking at the image of his wife emerging from the river, and just as silently laughing in his mind. The effect of his quiet laugh provokes a soft considering smile to appear on his face. He's not one to normally think like this, but just this once, he really wonders if all of them got together, and plotted it in his favour, to catch his wife at this time. It's highly unlikely that they did, but maybe the gods have had this meeting on their agendas since Universe 7 won the Tournament Of Power, just planning, scheming, and plotting for the few number of days that have passed since the Tournament, to gift him with this moment.

If it's true that the gods arranged the stars and aligned him to find his wife like this, he can consider it at a later time. A time when his eyes aren't drawn to the exposed and beautifully toned body of his wife casually emerging from the water onto land, and his heart isn't reacting like a reluctantly imprisoned venom, on the dangerous verge of striking an attack to have its prey under its power. Or a time when the smell faint dust in the air isn't appealing to him the most, and the smell of water, isn't bringing back pleasant memories to him, those memories momentarily taking him back to times well spent around the river and water, with the ones that he loves.

Right now, he is extremely busy being enticed by the vision of his wife steadily approaching land from the water, to worry about the schemes of the gods.

Her confident walk, has him impressed, and smiling as a result. Her perfect choice of a one-piece swimming costume, has him thankful that she has a good sense of modesty. But it's both of those combined; both her air of confidence and special care not to have her body over exposed in the open like this, that give him the right push to stop being a standing observer, and move his legs to meet her somewhere in the space between them now. His legs carry his body quietly, not making a loud enough sound to startle her, but she still notices him.

Her face lifts just the smallest bit from the direction that it had been looking at, towards him, and that is when their eyes meet. He pauses in his movement, his feet assuming the position of standing, because he didn't necessarily expect her to notice him this soon into his quiet observation. It's not a matter of having wanted to keep approaching her without her notice, that he pauses his advancing on her, it's rather how the contact between them, makes him feel a zing of a jolt in the centre of his heart.

 _That's_ the woman he made the choice to be with, his heart strongly recognises.

That's her, and he needs just a moment to watch her continue as she was, and more than before, appreciate the fact that he caught her down at the river, without knowing that she was going to be here. It's not often that he manages to find his wife at precisely the _right_ moment, because as his friends so often tell him, he has the absolute worst timing in all of history. In fact, the fingers on one of his hands, are too many to count the number of times that his timing has ever been perfect when it comes to hi wife, so maybe he _should_ go back to that thought of the gods conspiring in his favour.

And miss the opportunity to watch her in great detail?

Touched by the sight of his wife, his heart speaks up then, reasoning against the foolish idea of thinking about different coloured gods, hairless here, antennas there, or a strange haircut over there, when he could be investing all of his visual attention into the vision of his wife. No, he decides, _that_ can definitely wait for afterwards. As for right now, he has to give his all to making his eyes follow the steps of his wife. There's such a firm pull within him, to keep his eyes on the movement of his wife. From how she bends down to pick up her clothes on the grass, how she straightens from bending, coming up with her clothes held in her hands and then resumes her walking heading towards him, he just can't consider giving his eyes something else to look at.

She blends in so perfectly with the surrounding environment, looking every bit as comfortable in swimming attire as she does when she usually is in her home clothes, clothes that cover her from wrists to neck, and then neck to ankles. That's entrancing to notice about her, the way that her confidence in herself isn't set back by an unfrequented environment. More so, because even though her eyes are looking his way, she is giving no indication of being affected by his presence, like he is by hers.

 _That's_ really the woman that he made the choice to be with.

She's walking towards him, clearly looking at him, but she's going on about it like she doesn't need him at all. Her acknowledgement of him is there, but it's something along the lines of careless, and anyway, it doesn't equal to being touched by his presence, which is why it appeals to heart so, to zing even more than before. When she walks right past him, accidentally brushing her wet and slippery arm against his dry arm, it feels like a pleasant shock passes from her skin to his, because he swiftly turns his body to follow her moving body.

'You're back early,' she casually comments as she walks past him, completely unaware of what she just did to him.

She probably only expected him to come home in time for dinner, and that's all well and understandable, but _how_ can she just brush past him and not realise that it did something to him? If he feels like a matchstick was just struck against the texture of his skin, to light a spark within him, she must've felt how triggering her accidental touching was, or is… He's not feeling hot, hot yet, but there's definitely a flame threatening to start burning him up, and yet, she's simply going on like everything is as it was when he first caught her coming from the water.

'Wait!' he calls after her.

His mind has already forgotten what she said to him as she walked by him, because its priority now, is to get her back to him, and question how she switched things on him with a single unintentional touch. He had simply been admiring her, and appreciating that he caught her at a time that even she didn't think he would catch her at, and then all of a sudden, through one accidental touch, his body is beginning to behave in a way that his heart is not capable of doing. He needs answers for that.

'I have to get back home and start dinner,' is what she says to him over her shoulder. 'Catch up.'

That small detail, (which is most likely innocent on her part) just her being on her own schedule, not making small provisions for him, does something else to trigger him, that he's suddenly pulled to the sensuality of her moving bare feet… Her moving legs… Her moving thighs… Her tight fitting swimming costume… Her damp hair… Her wholeness is now so clearly outlined to him, that man...

Man, he lets out a long breath, what is it about this woman this evening?

She's pulling him in without even trying. She's usually seductive in her ways when she wants to be, but she's not trying to seduce him now, he knows that. Although she's not showing it, his appearance is just as much of a surprise to her, as him finding her here at the river is to him. Like that, there's no way then, that, she's deliberately enticing him. She's only being her natural self, and yet she's now so, so, _so_ arousing to his body. What spell is that in the air between them? The setting is the most unlikely for seduction, and he knows that she would never do anything to arouse him in public, since that embarrasses him... So what is it about her really? He needs to find out, because he's been married to her for so many years, and apparently, he can't piece it together why admiring her turned into physically wanting her, effortlessly on her part and sneakily on his part.

He partly runs over to his wife, coming to a rushed stop right next to her, as if someone pushed him at the right moment, to catch up with her. In what he believes is surprise, she stops moving, causing one of his feet to fall just one step out of line with hers. In the corner of his right eye, though, he sees a tree to his right, and thinking fast he clumsily takes her by the waist with both of his hands, to move them to the tree. A little too roughly, upon arriving at the tree, he pushes her back against the trunk.

'Sorry,' he quietly apologises even though she doesn't express pain at roughly meeting the tree trunk.

He can't say which of the two exactly, but either her not expressing discomfort (or not feeling it at all), or her not responding to his apology with more than waiting eyes, sets his body up in the trickling of excited nerves, that he puts his left hand in place between her collar bone and neck, with his fingers resting on her neck, and his palm just on her collar bone, while his right hand slithers through her waist and left arm, to press against the trunk and keep her trapped between his body and the tree.

He didn't think much of what to expect from her after he did that, but he sure didn't expect to come into proximity with the slippery feel of her still wet skin, or her eyes changing to stare into his with such intensity, to make even the toughest of opponents confess their evil plan. With that intensity, he can easily say that she is trying to put him under a complete spell, where he will be helpless to protest against whatever she asks of him. He also didn't expect that in her shifting, to maybe get comfortable in the new position, she would accidentally apply suggestive pressure on the sensitive area of his thigh, and he would begin to lose his clear mind like she put a spell on him.

Or something like it, at least.

His grandpa long ago told him about people having special powers, outside of martial arts, powers that they used to control people, or the things that happened in people's lives. His grandpa called them witches, and he vividly remembers thinking that Bulma had been one when they first met, but he also realises now, that he never _did_ ask Chi-Chi if she was one. What had happened was, he simply met her, and then around the third time that they met, they got married. Where Bulma and Yamcha had at least broken up twice, and she went on to marry Vegeta much later on, he just dove right in with Chi-Chi. No questions asked, he simply accepted to commit himself to Chi-Chi and that was that. Looking back now, he thinks that if that isn't witchcraft, then he doesn't know what is.

She bewitched him, he tells himself.

'I bewitched you,' she quietly says, and then nothing else.

Uh... He said that out loud? He didn't mean to, he had just been thinking to himself, but since she heard him, he might as well share his thoughts with her.

'Yeah,' he nods.

The explanation is as clear as the water she just came from. From the time that they met, to all the times that he kept going away and then still returning home, even though home was nothing as close to exciting as fighting and training was to him, it's all clear that she's had him under her spell all along. The simple fact that because home was not as exciting as fighting was, but the total opposite and grounding him, should be enough of a sign that she's had him bewitched from day one.

'Are you calling me a witch, Goku?' she asks, arching one eyebrow at him.

Seeing that look on her face, he begins to laugh softly, leaning his head on her shoulder and resting there for a while. Through that small action, he wants to let her know that he doesn't mean it in the bad way that she _might_ be thinking. He also takes the little resting time to think of something that will explain his meaning clearly to her. The most recent that he can bring to his mind, beside this thing just now happening between them, is the Tournament Of Power.

'I'm not calling you a witch, you know,' he begins to explain as he lifts his head off her shoulder. 'I'm just saying that I had an opportunity to win the Super Dragon Balls and get any wish, but I only thought to use it for you, or my sons.'

There's another example of her witchcraft on him.

He'd been hoping and aiming to be the overall winner of the Tournament Of Power, but even then, he knew that he wouldn't be using the Balls on himself. He felt, (and still feels) that he couldn't want for more in his life, than what he already had. Sure, he would've loved to challenge much stronger people in the different universes, but he also understood that finding a stronger opponent would be useless once he defeated them. He knew that he would get right back to where he began, looking for stronger opponents, so he couldn't get into the idea of wishing to get even thousands of stronger people, who would serve to keep pushing him beyond his current strength. Instead, he knew that Chi-Chi could use a Super wish, whatever that would've been. He knew with certainty, that she would wish for him to be at home with her all the days of her life, and still, he would've easily wished for the one thing that would've made her the happiest.

'The Super Dragon Balls?' she wants to know, and he nods in response.

The full story of the Tournament Of Power, is one that he still has to tell her about, but it won't be today that he tells her. Even if he wanted to tell her all of it now, right then, following his nod, she smiles at him She smiles in a way most precious and richly filled with gratitude for him, that his resolve just breaks. Her smile is so moving him, that he could just tuck her into him for several years.

'Hmm,' she runs her eyes all over his face, 'What would you have gotten us?'

'I don't know,' he shrugs, strongly resisting the urge to take her in his arms, and then twirl her in the air to keep that smile on her face. 'I didn't get to think about that. I didn't win them anyway, Seventeen did. I would've gotten you something to make you happy, I think.'

'You're sweetly considerate.'

He hears the whisper of the words comes from her, sounding like an enchanting song and pulling him to smile in response. And then without him being aware of what was going to happen, her lips come to touch his, opening a little bit to deliver just enough moisture to his lower lip.

Oh.

His lips know hers. Very well, he might add. His body also knows how to react to the catalyst of her lips touching his, of her mouth opening just the slightest for him, because his wife is an absolute witch, and she's enchanted him to always be for her, and her alone. It never takes much for him to respond to her, seeing as being a martial artists, he's mastered the art of bodily reacting how he's supposed to when the circumstances are right. Right now especially, when he's already been emotionally stimulated, it's easy for himself to get into the mood. Plus, she's done her fair share of unknowingly seducing him leading up to now.

He is really going to enjoy this, he thinks as she teases the tip of her tongue into his mouth.

What better way to end a successful day of training with Vegeta, than having sex with his appealing wife, purely based on the excitement that she's got him bewitched for herself without being aware of it?

All of a sudden, though, she pulls away from him and then looks between them, right down to where the new development of his rapidly growing erection has made itself known. With her left eyebrow arched, as if challenging his erection for a moment, she drags her eyes back to his. He hopes to his god friends, that she has no idea how seductive that expression looks on her, because it would kill the fantasy keeping his body going right now, if she does. It occurs to him that his whole pull to her, is that she's not playing the interested part towards him, and if she were to be aware of it, it would be shattered for him, and so he looks at her in wanting, hoping to make this happen _right now_. She easily removes herself from his trap in a small moment of a push here and a step there, however, that he almost doesn't believe it.

Unbelievable. Not only is she abandoning this, that she's not affected by him wanting her (as she mostly always is), but she also doesn't falter in her steps to get away from him.

'Chi-Chi?' he weakly calls after her, still wondering where he went wrong in trapping her, that she easily freed herself.

'I told you that I have to start on dinner,' she replies, not looking back at him.

Yeah, she said she had to start with dinner, but... Can't dinner wait? She's still in the swim thing, she's still so sexy to his body, and he's still-

'So what I do with this?' he asks, gesturing to his condition, even looking down at it to confirm that it's still present.

Still not looking back, but apparently knowing exactly what he means, she says, 'Keep it, I guess,' just loud enough for him to get it.

'Keep it?!' he cries as if a pain just attacked him and affected the sound of his voice.

When she doesn't give him a response, but continues walking on, he concludes that it looks like he'll be diving into the water this evening, after all.

* * *

 **Nineteenth,** Unrelenting Chi-Chi.


	19. Chapter 19

**Nineteenth,** Unrelenting Chi-Chi.

* * *

Only half in good fun, does he fly off from home with Goten, deliberately leaving an irritated Chi-Chi behind. It's nothing new for him and Goten to do something like this to her, so in there, lies the joking and funny aspect of what they just did to her. The other half, however, stemming from the depth of his heart, is so glad that he got it right to escape with Goten.

Chi-Chi can be _so_ strict sometimes. Okay, well, she's always strict at first, and then loosens up later on, but there are times when she's strict, strict. Times when she's seriously strict, when nothing is capable of changing her mind, and times like that, -like now, he should say- he gets some form of strangely humourous satisfaction in doing something rebellious.

'That was funny, huh, Dad?' Goten asks, breaking through the lingering soft sounds of their laughter in the air.

He had been okay to just allow their carried laughter to drift along with them as they flew together, side by side, with only a hand's width of distance between them, but after hearing Goten speak and he looks over to him, he realises that the two of them are actually sharing something.

'Yeah, it was,' he responds with a smile.

Laughing in short giggles, Goten says, 'Mom's not happy.'

'No, she's not,' he shakes his head. 'We're going to be in trouble when we go back home.'

They can laugh about it now, because it's still funny to remember her reaction, but there's a little sad aspect to what they just did to her. The truth is, while they are laughing at her reaction and how they snuck away from her, Chi-Chi is most likely at home wondering when she will see Goten after today. He's not glad to leave her unhappy and alone, in fact, he's regretting that part a little bit, but it's only that he _never_ has any alone time with Goten.

He never has Goten to himself.

Sure, there are those times at home when they have their moments, but he just wants something like what he had with Gohan all those years ago, on Kami's Lookout.

Until Goten knocked on the door and asked him if they could go to train together, a look of such excitement on his young face, Goku didn't know that he wanted time alone with his youngest son. It all happened in a moment of staring at the bright and happy face of his son, telling his mother that he wanted to be as strong as his father, that he realised what he hadn't before. And so, when Goten suggested that they leave while she was giving her lecture, he had already made up his mind that he wanted to have at least that one experience with Goten.

'But we're still going to train with Whis,' he assures Goten, suddenly feeling the need to.

'You promise?' Goten doubtfully asks.

'Sure,' he assures again. 'But we have to pick up Bean Daifuku for Lord Beerus first. He gets grumpy if I just show up without food for him.'

'Okay,' Goten eagerly nods. 'I can't wait to train with Whis.'

He can't wait for them to get to Lord Beerus' either, because he's briefly thought about it, and really, he just wants the two of them goofing around on Lord Beerus' planet, without Chi-Chi making the rules. Ugh, sometimes he just wants to put Chi-Chi in a closet and have a party with Goten. He loves her, though, it's just that sometimes she disapproves so many things; this and that, there and here, today and yesterday, just so many things…

It'll be so good to be the one setting the rules over Goten, and limiting him where he needs to be, teaching him in the enthusiastic way that Goten would be able to handle. It'll be good to take a different approach to training Goten than how he did it with Gohan, because they are both different in their characteristics. Overall, Goten and Gohan have the same good hearts, the same proper manners and the same humane tendencies, but they are still different. For that reason, he's glad to have snuck away from Chi-Chi.

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 **26Chapters**

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He knew without a doubt, that taking Goten with him, would mean playing around for a bit, until they found the right place for Lord Beerus' gift. He didn't think, however, that Goten would do more than just have fun along the trip. He got quite the surprise, it turned out, when Goten instilled in him a requirement of manners, that he hadn't been willing to cave to. If not for Goten, he would've simply gotten any packaging, and would've been carrying that same packaging now as they begin to fly off into the sky.

'Are we going to Whis now?' Goten asks.

'I want to invite Vegeta to come with us,' he explains before answering the question with, 'We're going to Bulma's first.'

'Can Trunks come with us?'

The hope in Goten's voice is too bright, that he takes a little time to think before he answers. He doesn't want to be the one to say, 'Yes, he can,' but when they get there, Trunks is not allowed to leave with them. It wouldn't be his fault in that case, but he just doesn't want to be the one to fuel Goten's hope to a blinding level, only for him to receive bad news upon getting there.

What he knows, is that if Bulma is the one to make that decision, sure, Trunks can and will come with them. However, if it's Vegeta's decision to make… He should just say that Vegeta as a parent, apart from having a drop of Chi-Chi's overall strict tone of parenting, is quite harsh, in his opinion. Vegeta's words are blunt and just hurt, so he'll probably refuse to train with Trunks in any setting. If anything close to giving Trunks permission to come with them, Vegeta might only tell Trunks to train on his own, and get strength through his own methods.

'I don't know,' he decides to tell his son. 'You'll have to ask Trunks if he wants to come.'

That's the safer answer, he decides, because Trunks is intelligent to know that even if he does want to go with them, he will have to get permission from one of his parents, most probably Vegeta, since he will be the one going as well. He just hopes that Vegeta will not pull a Chi-Chi, and prohibit the child from going. He's capable of doing it.

* * *

 **26Chapters**

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He should've known she would try everything she could to stop them from going together. The words leaving Bulma's mouth surprise him, but really, they don't surprise him at all. She's Chi-Chi, and like he knows (and loves) her, when she's being strict, strict, there's no getting around her. Of course she's letting him go, because he'll go anyway, but why can't she just let Goten go with him? It's like she doesn't trust him to have control over Goten.

Well, he'll still go with Goten anyway. She's not here to stop him, so he'll still go with Goten. He won't let her take the awesome time that he's been having with Goten so far, away from him. He loves her, and he understands that she wants to protect her son, but he just wants a little time with Goten. He won't tell Bulma that he has no intention of doing anything Chi-Chi said to her, though, because no one is going to stop him from taking Goten.

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 **26Chapters**

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He's laughing now. At himself mostly, but he's laughing all the same. Now that he's sitting here with Bulma, and he just overheard how easily Goten gave in to staying with Trunks to train, he cannot keep himself from laughing. Part in relief, and part in saddened realisation, he's laughing at himself, his mind taking him back to earlier with Chi-Chi, to where all this began. To think that he had been so determined to rebel against Chi-Chi.

How funny this is.

He would've liked to take Goten with him to Lord Beerus' for real. He would've liked to show him around Lord Beerus' planet, and then train with him. He'd even been thinking that he would ask Whis for a one against two match; him and Goten against Whis. Goten sure would've loved that, and they would have had so much fun, but it seems that effortlessly, Goten took pity on his friend, and decided that staying would be better than going.

He can't blame the little guy, though, because just like he had been willing to give Whis' gift to Bulma without hesitation, Goten's selfless acceptance to stay with his friend, rather than go away with his dad, is understandable. They will obviously have to find another time for just the two of them to train together, because today is not that day.

Huh!

Chi-Chi won in the end. As always.

* * *

 **Twentieth,** Unforgiving Chi-Chi.


	20. Chapter 20

**Twentieth,** Unforgiving Chi-Chi.

* * *

Hmpf!

 _There_ he is, that dear _lovely_ husband of hers.

There he is a little way in front of her, doing his stretching down exercises, as if all is _right_ in the world.

'Just look at him over there,' she mutters to herself with as much disapproval as she feels, her facial muscles constricting to match her words and feeling.

He's over there, happily moving his leg and arm muscles from side to side, lingering in one position for a period before going on to take the next position. Clearly, he's forgotten what he's done. It's all in the way that he can't even sense her presence at the door, or more importantly, how he can't read the change in the air caused by her feelings of what she has against him. Just so he knows, and she's not going to inform him of this, his ignorance is currently counting against him.

For impatience sake, she momentarily thinks to clear her throat in the most dramatic way that she can manage, to alert him of her presence, because that would certainly satisfy her need to be acknowledged. That would ensure that he recognises how displeased she is with him, but then, if she satisfies herself that way, she'll have one less thing to hold against him. So far, she has three things against him, and if she eliminates his ignorance, she'll only be left with two things.

Two over three things to hold against him?

No, she doesn't think so.

Three are better than two.

Besides, after what _he_ did to her, he needs as many stacks against him as possible. If not, he'll easily break through the thin stack that she has against him, using his seemingly innocent luring, and then before she knows it, she'll be smiling and joking with him. Since his offence is so great, that cannot happen. To make sure that he knows not try and sweet talk her into forgiving him, she firmly crosses her arms, arranges her face to display her state, and then leans her body on the frame of the door for when he eventually looks her way, and realises that she is there.

Unfortunately for her, though, her movement, which she thought had been pretty quiet to be heard, gives her away almost immediately after her shoulder finds support on the doorframe. She barely gets a few seconds to get accustomed to her triangular leaning position, when Goku looks her way and instantly pauses his stretching exercises. She would've liked to mentally scoff that it's about time that he noticed her, but his face breaking into a smile, like he just saw something that he didn't expect to see, but wholly appreciates, takes that little grudge away from her.

She's going to hold that against him too, just so he knows. Because how _dare_ he behave like they are no good terms with each other!

'Phew,' he starts, picking up his previously halted stretch. 'I didn't realise how tired I got myself today. That Lord Beerus guy was something, huh?'

'You're the one who fought him, not me,' she answers him shortly, attempting to make an indifferent shrug.

'Ha ha, you're right,' he agrees through a soft laugh. 'I'm glad that he didn't destroy the world, after all. Aren't you glad?'

Carefully raising both of her eyebrows, she calmly asks, ' _Glad_?'

Oh, she's been waiting for this… For this, she has to stand on her own two feet and support herself, because, he _has_ the nerve! Really, how priceless her husband is!

'Yeah, glad,' he nods between his current his stretch.

'And why, tell me, _dearest_ Goku,' she sweetly pulls out of her mouth, 'would I be glad?'

Making it seem like she just ordered him to stop his stretching, he corrects his posture, to stand upright on both of his feet.

'Uh…' he puts on a frown, at the same time looking like he has the urge to scratch his head for the right thing to say.

'Yes?' she prompts.

Somewhat unsure, he replies with the question, 'The world's not destroyed?'

'Oh!?' she exclaims in false wonder. 'The world's not destroyed?'

'No.'

He looks even more confused than before, she observes, and so she will enlighten him with the knowledge that he apparently does not have. Her issue has nothing to do with the world not being destroyed, which means that she will not pay important attention to that.

'Okay, the world's not destroyed,' she nods to accept that part, 'thank you for that, but who do you think would've won Bulma's Bingo prices had we gotten around to playing?'

'Huh?' he pulls his head back, because apparently he hadn't been expecting that from her. 'No one played Bingo after Lord Beerus left.'

Ha! She _could_ laugh right now.

 _That's_ what he's going to do? He's just going to stand over there and say it to her face, that no one won anything anyway? He's obviously not hearing what she's saying at all. If he were to start from the beginning, he would remember that this conversation is happening, because he asked her if she isn't glad with how the day turned out.

'No one played, yes,' she agrees, taking three steps towards him, 'but let's imagine _dearest_ Goku, that Beerus had not shown up, and no interruption had been made to the party. Do you think the party would've carried on _without_ you?'

'Yeah, I guess,' casually leaves his mouth.

'So, you agree that Bingo _would've_ been played?'

'Yeah,' he laughs, 'but why are we talking about something that didn't happen?'

Oh, she'll tell him why. She'll tell him why, and then he will know that all is not right in the world. She'll tell him, and then he'll realise what she has against him.

'We're talking about it, because guess who would've lost if we _had_ played Bingo, because they had one less player?'

Blinking, maybe in confusion, or maybe as a way of trying to think of the right answer to give, Goku only looks at her for a moment. He can blink at her all she wants, but oh, she'll wait for her answer.

'Anyone, I guess,' he replies with a shrug.

'No,' she shakes her head and takes one more step to him.

Thankfully, that step doesn't take her close enough to him, because she's in no state to be extremely close to him.

'Not anyone,' she picks up her talking, 'Only Goten and I would've lost. We only had two people on our team.'

For the first second after she delivers her words, she hears the clear sound of a laugh, his laugh, to be exact. It's perfectly clear to her ears, and she even sees the rising and falling of his chest, the very proof that he's enjoying himself through laughter, and yet, she can't believe that he's really laughing. It's that he can't really be laughing. Well, not at what she said, at least.

'No,' he says after his laughter dies down. 'Anyone else could've lost if it was like that. Master Roshi was alone,' he lifts his thumb to count them off. 'Tien and Chiaotzu were only two,' his forefinger rises to join his thumb. 'Gohan and Videl were alone,' he says, adding his middle finger to the rising count. 'Yamcha and Puar were also alone,' his fourth finger joins the others. 'Oolong was alone,' his little finger meets the others. 'Your dad was alone,' he starts to raise the little finger of his other hand, but then changes his mind to say, 'Actually, no, he would've played with you and Goten, and then you would've been more than everyone else.'

That's not the point, she thinks, looking at him with irritation. She _knows_ all of that. If he can't bring himself to remember it, _she_ had been at the party, doing those same _calculations_ herself. She'd actually even thought of coercing Piccolo into playing for their side, but still, that's _not_ the point.

'Krillin and his family were also three,' she snaps at him, mostly because his logic is not needed here.

She knows very well that Krillin and Eighteen's daughter hardly counts as a contestant, but since he wants to get all technical, and completely ignore the point that she is making, she will fight him with his stupid logical technique.

'I wouldn't have made a difference anyway,' he defends himself, sounding like he believes it too.

Why, he!

'You _would_ have made a difference,' she confirms, because it's true, 'and we could've won one of the prices.'

The true truth is that she didn't so much care for the actual prices of the Bingo game, she just freaked out at the last minute, when she realised that she had one family member less to play with. She played it off as frustration for having one less player on her team, when in reality, her mind went back to the time when she and Goku agreed to attend Bulma's party _together_ , because there was likely to be activities that they could do together as a _family_ , against all the other families that were invited.

In case this fact no longer has a place in his memory, she'll have him know that they are both competitive people.

They had planned for days after the invitation, how they would work to get their family out as the best. In a meek way, of course, they'd planned to accept their victory as the best family when all the activities were concluded. Which was why when the reality of his absence hit her, the understanding that he had sold her a dream that he wouldn't be giving her after all, she chose the easier route of making it seem like she was worried about the prices. Because really, what else could she say? Should she really have opened the private conversations and agreements with her husbands to the surrounding people, should she really have put on a saddened face of disappointment, when one, most of the people at the party had a certain perception of her already and two, she ran the risk of attracting attention away from Bulma with her downcast spirit?

No, she chose not to do either of those.

In this current case with him as well, if he doesn't want to see that he should've been there in first place, as she's hinting for him to figure it out for himself, she's going to drag this on. By not recognising her real issue, he's forcing her to continue making this one small case against him, the main reason for her unwillingness to forgive him, even after his combination of bravery and eagerness to test his powers saved all of them in the world earlier today.

'What do we even need the prices for?' he curiously asks. 'Goten had already found the Dragon Balls, and Bulma would've given them to me anyway, if I had asked. We don't even need the prices. Not the castle, not even the Dragon Balls. It's not a big deal.'

She _said_ , she doesn't want his precise logic.

His logic does this irritating thing of drawing out some percentage of the importance of points that she's trying to argue with. She can't come at him with full force, when he has perfectly sensible answers to defend himself him, and so, pulling in a breath to keep herself together, she decides right here and now that this is not going to work.

From the beginning, when she entered the room after tucking Goten in, she should've just come out and told him that she is not happy with him. She should've told him that she feels this way, because he didn't make it to the party like they had agreed he would do, some nights back. All this hinting and leading to the actual issue, could've been avoided, if she just used her time to inform him that he broke their agreement, an agreement that she had since emotionally and mentally invested her energy into.

'It is a big deal, Goku,' she uncrosses her arms after all of this time. 'I wanted us all to _be_ and play together, but you weren't there!'

She wants him to see that he should've been there, playing as a family, instead of being away, when _all_ the families were there together. In that moment, when an opportunity to take part in an activity was presented to her, she realised that Goku wouldn't be joining them, and the fantasy that she had been looking forward to all week, would longer be. It broke her to realise that. Not severely, but still, it broke her.

' _Chi-Chi_ , nobody played Bingo,' he insists. 'We're not here talking about what would've happened if Lord Beerus destroyed the world, because he _didn't_ do it. Nobody played Bingo, so it doesn't matter.'

That's it.

She's not doing this anymore.

He can just go on being clueless, and not understanding her point. She just made it clear that the problem is that he hadn't been there like he had assured her, but he insists on staying stuck on the Bingo thing. At this point, she doesn't even care if she's at fault for not making it clear to him from the beginning, she only cares that he must take note that she _won't_ forget this. For tonight, because honestly, it's been a long day already, she'll let it go. _However_ , one day… Just he wait…

'Okay,' she flatly announces as she scrunches her nose, and then turns her back on him.

'You're not upset, are you?' she hears coming from behind her.

'Let's just go to bed,' she avoids the question. 'It's been a long day.'

'You sure?' he presses, concern sounding in his voice.

After a long stretch of silence, she clears her throat, and then sniffs a little, only then to say, 'I'm sure,' although...

* * *

 **Twenty-first,** Pregnant Chi-Chi.


	21. Chapter 21

**Twenty-first,** Pregnant Chi-Chi.

* * *

Here's how it happened.

After the initial excitement of Bra's unexpected birth wore off for almost everyone but the mother, she quietly excused herself from the group. A little like Yamcha had done actually, she found an opportunity to leave the group, when she thought that no one would notice her. Taking advantage of being in the city, she quickly popped into the closest pharmacy for some of her favourite expensive chocolates, and a pregnancy test. After that, she went home, believing that both Goku and Goten wouldn't be home in a while, meaning that she was safe to do whatever it was that she wanted. Naturally, having the house to herself, she went into the bathroom, pregnancy test protectively clutched in her hand, and headed straight for the toilet pot, to follow the instructions indicated on the box that she left in the bedroom.

Goku found her like that.

With her trousers and panties pushed down to her ankles, the forefinger nail of her left hand inside her mouth to censor her nerves, and her right arm stuck inside the toilet pot, through the space between her thighs, was how he found when he suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Surprise only had a brief period of time to exist between them, as she didn't expect him, and she only guessed that he didn't expect to find her in that particular way. Surprise then left when she decided that his appearance wouldn't change what's taking place, and he recovered from interrupting her. She returned to playing options in her head while she waited, as Goku mumbled something about needing a quick shower, through removing his clothes. Soon after, he stepped into the shower, leaving her to wait out the rest of the fifteen minutes by herself.

That is how they are here.

'I'm not sick,' Goku quickly says, his eyes not leaving the testing stick that she's holding out to him.

Wondering what he means, why he said it and how it relates to her, she turns her eyes from his face to the test in her hand. Upon seeing it, she realises that no, she didn't say a single thing to him about the thing in her hand, and no, in her haste to share the results with him, she only turned off the water for him, to get his attention that way. She can see why saying nothing, except shoving a thermometer looking test in his face, would look like she's accusing him of being sick.

'It's not a thermometer,' she hastily tells him. 'I took a pregnancy test. That's the result,' she finishes with shaking the test before him.

'You're pregnant?' he exclaims, his eyes growing wider.

Tingly excitement builds up inside of her, like she has never been excited in her life before. The way in which he expressed himself, asking her to confirm the news, is more like he's already reacting to the result that he read on the test. From that, stems her excitement, and in that same excitement, she adjusts the position of the test, so that she's directly staring at the result.

Here she thought that the test displayed the word for a negative result, but according to Goku's reaction, it says, 'Yes.' The whole reasoning behind taking the test, was to learn that she's pregnant. Like the last time when she found out that she was pregnant after Burma had already had Trunks, she hoped that she would repeat the same thing. Yes, is what she wants here.

Now that her excitement is activated, and the test is right in front of her eyes, she trains her attention on the squared words on the one end of the test. This time, she'll make sure to read it right, and get the same result that he got. She studies the test again, and… Her eyes lift to look her husband's face, because his reaction, does not correlate to what she just read on the test.

'It says no,' she quietly tells him.

She's cowardly opting for the closest thing to whispering, for fear that in announcing it, his hope will be torn down. He'd had such a genuine excitement of surprise on his face, that she cannot be the one to bring him down like that.

'I didn't read it,' he backs away from her with his hands help up, as though he is helpless. 'You said it's a pregnancy test.'

'Well, yeah,' she answers somberly. 'It is. I just thought that if Bulma could have another child, there was a possibility that I could have one too.'

Goku looks at the test in her hand again, only to ask, 'So, are you having a baby?'

'I just said no,' she tells him in the same tone as before. 'The test says that I'm not.'

'You're not?'

To answer him, she shakes her head and then drops the hand with the pregnancy test. There's no point in keeping it up between them. It has done its job, it has told her what she wanted to know, and it has nothing left to do between them. Reducing them to softly speaking people, it has already done.

'It's probably for the best anyway,' she tries to comfort both of them. 'I overheard something about a new Tournament, and who knows, you could die again, and then I'd have to be pregnant all by myself again.'

That's just a plaster on a small sore, of course, covering the little bruise that just developed, in order to make it seem like it didn't sting to feel. Just as sad as he looks, drooping eyes and all, she feels pity for a pregnancy that isn't happening to her.

'I didn't know that you wanted another baby,' he says in a low tone, almost as if he's saying it to blame himself.

'I didn't,' she confesses after a small sigh. 'It was just that seeing Bra today, made me miss being a mother with a baby. Gohan has gone his own way, and soon Goten won't be here either. If I had a baby, I'd have someone with me when Goten leaves.'

If he listened to her words, he'll understand that it's not that she particularly wants a baby. He'll see that she's not unhappy now with what she has now, but that she only had a moment of maternal weakness at Capsule Corp. She'll be all right, though.

Strangely, as if he heard her last though, he fixes his eyes on hers, firmly holding the stare to ask, 'Are you disappointed that you're not?'

Before she answers him, she feels like she needs to close her eyes and take herself to the emotional place where she'd been when Goku got things mixed up, and asked her if she was pregnant. Only once there, she reasons behind closed eyes, can she calculate the difference between that place of excitement and this one of certainty that she is not going to have a baby.

It seems like there's a difference. It may not be that big and crippling, but it's there, and the fact that she can't rule it out completely, neither accept it wholly, is proof enough that she feels some form of disappointment. She's not all that sure what she feels, to be honest.

She had expected that she would be pregnant too, but when she saw her results and they said it was a negative test, it wasn't that hard to accept them. She came to share in the answer with Goku, because she wanted a bit of his support. It's not to say that she's disappointed, however, she's not relieved either. She's just in the middle, because she had started to weigh the options, and the birth of Bra is still over her head.

'I don't know,' she says, opening her eyes to look at him. ' _Maybe?_ '

In a blur, immediately following her uncertain answer, Goku lunges out of the shower, to press himself into her in a tight embrace. She's so caught by surprise by his arms around her, that her face automatically heats up, as her brain tries to catch up with just happened to her.

He's holding her, that she knows.

Her arms are trapped between their bodies, that she also knows now.

There's a feeling of understanding, that she feels.

This feels better, that she appreciates.

'We can have a baby after the Tournament,' he softly coaxes with his hands gently running down her back. 'But only after the Tournament, okay? I don't want to think of you being pregnant at a time like this.'

'Hmm,' she softly agrees, but she really doesn't want to get her heart into that idea.

He must know that she's not entirely on the same page as him, because he gently pushes them apart for their eyes to meet. If she's supposed to take anything away from their eyes making contact, she'll take away that he's extremely set on whatever is going on in his head.

'Promise me, Chi-Chi,' he firmly requests.

As serious a request as that is, it's also slightly funny. She almost laughs at him for asking her such a thing, only, she disciplines herself at the last second, to be considerate of his feelings, and rather tell him just how his request qualifies as slightly funny.

'It's not like I'm going to force myself onto you, Goku,' she tells him. 'It takes two of us, you know. I can't do it by myself. It's not like I'm going to call upon Whis, and ask him to get me pregnant.'

'No,' he scowls and his hold on her becomes tighter, 'You're not having Whis' baby.'

Sheesh, what a sourpuss he suddenly is. How tight his expression has become compared to the serious tone from before. It was only a _joke_ , referenced from what he did for Bulma's delivery. She's in no way saying that she wants to have Whis' baby. The simple thought… Ugh, no… She simply can't imagine herself with children that aren't fathered by her husband.

Hopefully showing her distaste at the thought, she pulls a face and accompanies it with the clenched words, 'I don't want his baby.'

'Good,' he smugly seems to rejoice. 'So in the meantime, just try to resist touching me until the Tournament is over, okay?'

'Resist you?' she asks, her eyebrows arched and prepared to hear the explanation.

All of a sudden, one of her arms is taken from its position between them, and the next thing that she feels, is flesh under the palm of her hand. Over her hand, she feels Goku's hand guiding hers, to take firm hold of that same flesh. Confused, she searches his eyes to find out just what is going on here, but on his face, it reads something like a victory of a proven point. Seeing him look like that, she quickly evaluates the angle of her arm and where it could possibly be. It doesn't take long to realise that he looks like that, because he's managed to make her grope his butt, and make it appear like she is doing a poor job at resisting his body.

'Goku!' she cries, half upset that he tricked her.

'What?' he plays innocent. 'You're the one grabbing my butt!'

Yes, of course. She simply couldn't resist his body being so close to her, and so she touched him like that. And he, being the innocent party in all of this, simply placed his hand over hers to remove it, except it got stuck there.

'You're something else,' she shakes her head, her emotions starting to give way to a soft laugh.

How easily he's changed the mood to something light. She's amazed by him. Even after all of this time, she's still gets amazed by his effortless ability to transition one thing into another. It's just as well, though, because she doesn't believe that there's more to be said about the pregnancy test results. It is what it is, and that's the reality.

'You're still grabbing my butt, though,' he teases.

Only because your hand is keeping mine there, she thinks to say to him, but she thinks better of it. With the same measure of trickery that he used on her, she'll use on him. She'll catch him by surprise just like he did her, and she'll make him exclaim his surprise, just like she did.

One, two, three, she counts.

Now!

She quickly pinches his butt, and just like she expected, he pushes away from her, crying, 'Aaah! What did you do that for?'

'You're such a baby,' she laughs lightly. 'That didn't hurt. Now pick up your clothes and go put them with the rest of the dirty clothes.'

'That was not nice,' he softly complains, but still does what she told him.

She watches as he turns from her and then walks just two steps to where he pulled off his clothes. Getting there, he bends, beginning to gather his clothes into his hand, and all of a sudden, she gets the urge to do something mischievous. Clearly, punching his butt was not enough, if she she's finding herself tempted to mess with him.

Smiling to herself, she moves over to him with a carefully prepared hand. Once she reaches him, she places her hand over his butt cheek, slides it down to the cheek's base, to gently squeeze it. She does it only briefly, in the mind that, there's no harm in copping a feel, when his butt is so graciously displayed.

'Hey!' he sharply rises in protest, evidently caught off guard by what just happened to him.

She keeps on moving past him, though, not stopping to wonder what he's protesting about. Let him think that it was an accident, because she will certainly pretend like she didn't do anything.

* * *

 **Twenty-second,** Trusting Goku.


	22. Chapter 22

**Twenty-second,** Trusting Goku.

* * *

With the party rounding up, the sun close to setting, everyone more than adequately fed, and Pan fast asleep on her chest, it's time that she finds her own family members. The three of them need to return home, because _she_ for one, is looking forward to being back at home, and away from the energy of secrecy and concealment that's been hovering around this celebratory party. She's looking forward to being in the comfort of her own home, not suffering the jitters of being on edge, for fear that the big secret that everyone is holding, will be revealed.

In that mind, she firstly looks down at Pan, and only after finding that her granddaughter is still sleeping, does begin to walk towards the place her family is. Besides Puar and Tien, who just left her company some moments ago, she had been the only person lingering on this side of the property. Everyone else, including Gohan and Videl, who arrived quite late, found it more entertaining to be gathered around Buu, Lord Beerus and Goku's eating contest.

She couldn't have been there with them, even if her stomach could've survived the visual. Gladly, without hesitation, she would declare herself a strong woman, able to stand through the thickest of times, however this thing with Monaka, and having to keep it secret from her husband, she's not strong enough to meet in the face. So much of her energy has already been spent on worrying about Yamcha, or anyone else really, blurting out the Monaka secret while she was away from them, so she can only imagine how it would've been like, had she kept close company with all of them.

No, no, she's very glad that this is coming to an end.

She will get to go home and relax, possibly watch a light movie, and then put all that Monaka business behind her. No longer will she be trapped in the dishonesty of keeping a secret from her husband, once they get home. It will only be her, Goku and Goten, doing what they are used to doing at home late in the evening. She-

Her thoughts, while she's on her way to find her loved ones, automatically stop at the sight of an approaching being; Monaka. The immediate thought that she has when she sees him, is to quickly turn her head the other way, and make like she didn't see him. It's only that Monaka makes eye contact with her long before she can look away, and their meeting eyes put her in a stuck position, where she has to carry on walking, but make sure to stop moving when she gets in line with him.

What a terrible position to be in.

She never wanted to exchange words with the man.

But oh well, what needs to be done, needs to be done.

Pulling in a long breath to keep her steady in the meantime, she stops the movement of her legs, standing in wait for Monaka to reach her.

'Monaka,' she politely acknowledges once they meet, and he halts his steps to stand with her.

'Yes?' he replies.

What now?

Standing face to face with the small man, she tries to find something inside of her, to help her move forwards with him.

To this poor man sounding bored even to talk to her, to this man who's been dragged into Lord Beerus' game as if he doesn't matter to someone out there in the universe, what does she say?

'Uh… Um…' she verbally fumbles, quickly searching for something, anything to say to him. 'Did you enjoy today?'

'No,' he simply says. 'I find it hard to enjoy anything when I am under stress.'

She can imagine that he might _not_ have liked to be here at all. Of everyone present, he must've been the most nervous of all, probably fearing that Goku would ask him for a rematch, or worse, hit him without warning.

'I am sorry, Monaka,' she sincerely apologises.

Yes, Monaka has his share in the problem too, in that he agreed to be used, but she cannot dismiss her own part in the whole mess. She's part of the problem of his stress, for covering up Lord Beerus' secret, and because of that, she has to apologise.

He nods, accepting her apology, and then says, 'I am leaving now. Goodbye.'

After that, he carries on his way, leaving her to go on with finding her family. Not more than ten steps in the direction she's head, somewhere before she reaches the others, she sees another figure fast approaching her. It doesn't take long to recognise her husband, it's only that it doesn't look like he's going to stop any time soon. Curious as to why he's hasty that way, so she readies herself to stop him.

'Woah,' she cautions as she holds out her free arm to stop him from walking past her.

Although he stops, he urgently asks, 'What?'

'Where are you going? We need to go home soon.'

'Gohan said that Monaka's leaving,' he begins to explain, 'so I want to talk to him before he goes.'

Ah, Monaka!

Just thinking that name, makes her skin starts to tingle. Under her skin, it now feels like a big pot is simmering, and if discovered by the single person who doesn't know of its existence, it'll erupt and expose her to him. Under no circumstances can that happen, so she has to do her best to protect the lie that's been circulating today.

Oh, she can't believe this about herself, but she has to do her part in protecting the lie. Such a hypocrite she is, she reprimands herself mentally. She's always stressing that she wants to hear and know the truth, and yet here she is, doing her best to protect a _lie_.

'Goku, leave Monaka now,' she says, making it seem like she's advising him for the better.

'I just wanna thank him,' he points a thumb behind them, most likely to indicate to Monaka.

'You already fought the man,' she reminds him after a short sigh, because this is getting harder. 'What more do you want?'

That's right, save your own skin, because if your lie becomes evident to him, he'll be disappointed in you _the_ most.

'I know we fought,' he answers urgently, 'but maybe we can fight again after I train some more.'

Ooooh, he's making this _so_ hard.

Now more than ever, she has to keep pressing the mask of deceit, disguised as concern, onto her face, so that it doesn't slip away, for him to see the truth. Adjusting Pan, not because she's feeling the weight of the child, but because she is not comfortable standing in front of him and deceiving him this way, she makes one of the final attempts to sway him away from the goal of talking to Monaka. She'll give herself about three convincing statements from here, and if they don't work, she'll blurt out the truth.

'Don't harass the man, Goku.'

'I won't,' he says.

Clearly, he has every intention of going after Monaka, his answer says that much. He's promising not to harass Monaka, but that doesn't mean that he won't go after him.

'Just leave him, please,' she softly stressing, hoping with all of her might that her desperation is not audible. 'You might irritate him, and then he'll never want to fight with you again. Besides, he is a busy man. He has a job, you know. He probably gets up early to go to work.'

That has to work.

Please, please, that has to work, because she's reached the limit of covering up this lie. She just wants to go home. And anyway, why can't Monaka just have taken off already? What is he still doing on the property? If Monaka doesn't leave soon, she will faint from all the excuses that she has to keep making for Goku not to find him, and speak to him.

'Listen to me, Goku,' she urges one last time, going as far as to caress his forearm.

What's even more painful than knowing the truth, and instead lying to her husband about a reasoning that he will easily get over once it's explained to him in detail, is the fact that not even a second after she 'advises' him, Goku breaks out into an accepting smile and nods. It's in his nature to listen to her voice of reason, just as it's in his nature to believe her when she speaks seriously. That's why he's not fighting her on this anymore, he's blindly trusting her, believing that she wouldn't do something deceiving. How mistaken he is about her, seeing as from the very first moment that he showed up, seeing Monaka, she devised to send him home for a shower, in order to help protect the Monaka secret.

'I guess I should listen to you,' he accepts. 'I can always see him another time.'

Although she's internally disgusted with herself, feeling like the heel she is, to keep up appearances, she apparently nods in agreement with him. It should be enough that he agreed to keep away from Monaka, but for absolute safety, she needs him to walk back with her. To achieve that, she gestures for him to walk with her.

'Do you want me to hold Pan for you?' he offers, holding out his arms. 'She's heavy when she's sleeping.'

'It's okay,' she refuses, but he still takes her from her arms.

Monaka all forgotten, Goku begins to tell her about losing the contest to Buu as they walk, however, she's not listening all that much to what he's saying. She's too busy thinking about her gullible husband. He could easily be mistaken for stupidity or idiocy, when in truth, he just expects that the people who he considers friends, would never do anything to hurt him, and in there lies his complete trust. One just has to look at how he believed her now, without question of her motives, to know that he is very trusting and willing to believe the best in people.

It makes her feel so bad to be involved in something seemingly harmless, but...

This lie... It's not hers, she's not the one who came up with it, so technically, she's not wrong to _not_ reveal it, right? It's not her lie to expose, _right_?

* * *

 **Twenty-third,** Victimise Goku.


	23. Chapter 23

**Twenty-third,** Victimise Goku.

* * *

He deliberately came home late, to make up for the time that he lost between his tractor breaking, and when he escaped that fight concerning Mr. Satan, but it looks like he's apparently not allowed inside the house tonight. Well, allowed to enter the house, yes, he is, because Chi-Chi's obviously waiting for him to enter the house, it's just that he _won't_ receive a warm reception once he does get inside the house. Not when Chi-Chi looks _so_ angry.

All of her looks angry; her face, her hair, her arms, her eyes, her fingers…

Being on the outside looking in, listening in, and wanting to be in there, in the warmth, eating with them, Goku's heart drops several spaces below his stomach. His heart could have at least fallen into his stomach, and kept his stomach full with something –at the very least. And maybe, inside his stomach, his heart would be kept nice and warm, unable to realise the emotionally cold feeling of being rejected by his own wife. This just isn't fair.

Chi-Chi being this angry means that he knows not to _go_ anywhere from here. It means that he has to stay right here, outside, with his back against the wall of the house, just waiting. In the cold, even. Smelling the inviting aroma of food especially made with love, too. Why can't he just leave for Dende's, or King Kai's for night? He knows why, he sadly answers himself, and that's that escaping the smell means leaving, and leaving means... Well, no matter the angle, the reasoning and the discomfort from his end, when analysed by Chi-Chi, it will _really_ only mean that he ran away from his wife's anger, and that would be so much worse than anything he could do to her.

Aaah! It's so frustrating!

It's as frustrating as it is bad, to feel the sting of not being wanted, on the basis that he can't fully accept her anger as justified, while on the other hand, he can't contend with her anger either. He technically didn't _do_ anything wrong, so her anger isn't justified that way. It really wasn't his fault, but, for her sake, so that he doesn't completely have a reason to call her anger misplaced, he'll take responsibility, and accept that he simply could've refused Mr. Satan in the first place. Had he done that, he wouldn't be sitting outside the house like he is.

But man, this is really unfair. If _only_ he could have Mr. Satan here, with his back against the wall, missing out on _his_ behalf. That would be fair, somehow… Since he didn't even get to take part in the fight, he's really suffering the consequences of doing nothing, absolutely nothing at all. At least, if he'd dodged here and there, and then landed a punch on that foreign blue and furry guy, he'd find reason in being ignored and cast out.

Ugh! This sucks. He feels so unwanted, kept out in the cold like this.

* * *

 **26Chapters**

* * *

It's funny how he didn't know that he had drifted off to a light version of sleep, but instantly knows to be startled from sleep onto his feet by the sound of the opening door. For someone who was just pulled from sleep, his senses of perception come to their sharpest life impressively fast, surprising even himself.

Just one look at his wife standing in the doorway, her hands on her hips and a surprised look on her face, has him completely alert to the situation. She's still angry. All of her is still angry. Her eyes are narrowed towards him. Even the pull of her hair into a bun, looks tighter than it has ever seen it be in his life.

This is it, he thinks, silently swallowing while he's at it. This is the part where Chi-Chi kills him, just like she told Goten she would do. He is going to die tonight, and because he is, he's going to stay absolutely silent and simply let her kill him. It's his hope that if he doesn't put up a struggle, after she finishes killing him, she'll carry his body inside the house, where he will stop feeling the cold air against his skin. He'd very much like to get inside, into the warmth of his home, and if it means surrendering, he'll do it without complaining.

'Why didn't you come inside?' she demands to know, her lips tightly pulling together.

'I'm sorry,' he clumsily blurts out.

Whether he's apologsing for not coming inside, or for making her angry in the first place, he can't make out at the moment, since his main concern is only to readily accept his punishment from Chi-Chi.

'Why didn't you come inside?' she repeats, not changing her demeanour.

'You…' he starts, the clumsiness refusing to leave his mouth. 'You told Goten…'

For fear of making it sound like he's accusing her, or that it's her fault that he's outside, he chooses not to finish that sentence. If he wants his dead body in the warmth of the house at some point tonight, he'll have to allow her all the power. Although, the sudden gasp from Chi-Chi looks much like an imbalance of her power. It's like suddenly, he's the one with the power over her.

'You've been here that _long,_ Goku?'

He nods to answer her, and she lets out a sigh, probably one of relief, if he can hope. He notices that her hands leave her hips, and that her expression loses some of its tightness too. Also, when she opens her mouth to speak, the bite from before is considerably toned down, to his amazement.

'You had me worried.'

Aw, now he feels bad. He didn't mean for that to happen.

She'd looked so angry, that he didn't think that she would be worried about him. He knows that worrying is something that she does, but he just didn't consider that she had space to be worried about him somewhere between her anger for him.

'I'm sorry,' he tells her, remorseful that he even has to give the apology. 'I didn't think you'd be worried about me.'

Nodding vigorously, she confirms that, 'I was. You just healed some days ago, how could I not be worried about you?'

'You're angry,' he softly reminds her as a way of explaining why he reasoned that she wouldn't be worried about him. 'I didn't want to make it worse.'

Chi-Chi looks at him for a small amount of time, after he speaks, her eyes studying all of him. Starting on his face and then going down to his feet, her eyes slowly go over him, only to return to his face once again. Once her eyes are on his face, a faint fold appears between her eyebrows, showing either disapproval or dislike, he can't be sure which. She then steps out of the door to him, making him want to take a step back from her. In truth, he wants to get out of the line of her fury, but since he promised himself that in order to get inside the house, he'll have to take her punishment, whether he deserves it or not, he stays put.

Silently, after an impulsive gulp, he wishes himself luck.

Again, she takes another step, this second one bringing her to stop just a small space away from him. Yet again, he finds himself tempted run away from her fury by closing his eyes, so as not to see her face when she starts yelling at him, but again, he reminds himself that he needs to weather his punishment. It's because of choosing to keep his eyes open, that sees her reach out her arms, bringing them to circle around him, and then pull him into a hug. He's normally one to close his eyes during a hug, only now, being unexpectedly held (feeling the warmth of her, and her hand stroking the back of his head), he feels that it's only right for him to keep his eyes open, to accompany his frozen stature.

'You didn't make it worse,' she says in the softest tone that she has used on him tonight. 'You just worried me. You barely got your appetite and health back, and then you stay out all night? I was worried that you'd gotten sick again… Helplessly lying incapacitated somewhere.'

That's a tiny bit dramatic, he thinks. Although, he can understand why she went that far in her head. When the symptoms of his previous sickness became too much for him to hide, he'd had no choice but to tell her about he'd lost control of his body several times. He also had to confess that he didn't tell her anything about it, because he knew that she would worry. Recalling all that, it's not hard to see how she imagined the worst case for his absence.

'I was fine,' he tells her, hoping to erase that imagined picture from her mind.

For a reason he doesn't understand, she pulls him closer to her, following that with moving backwards. As he's held tightly into her, his feet are forced to move with hers. Very quickly, he realises that she's pulling him into the house. The warmth inside the house, he appreciates and welcomes wholeheartedly, that is, until she starts pushing him back. In a panic, he begins to think that she's going to push him out of the house, but before he can get that thought to his body for a reaction, he hears the door close behind him.

'You were fine?' she asks as it hits him that she simply wanted to close the door.

'Yeah,' he nods.

Not giving him a warning, Chi-Chi suddenly releases him from her hold, lightly duffs the side of his head with her hand, to then only say, 'Then you should've come home.'

He's been home, he defensively answers in his mind. He's just been sitting _outside_ home. It's not like he kept away from home. He's been here the whole time.

'Do you wanna stop being angry, please?' he asks, frowning at her while rubbing the mass of hair that took the hit of her hand.

'No,' she says shortly, going as far as to looks away from him.

He swears, Chi-Chi's the only person in the whole world, capable of being worried about him and angry with him in the same breath. She's apparently still angry, despite the fact that she just finished holding him in her arms.

'Come on,' he begs. 'Let me tell you what happened, please.'

She doesn't say the word, 'okay,' to him, but her turning head back to him, is enough of an answer for him to decide that he's not going to beat around the bush with what really happened. He'll rather just tell her at once what happened, so that she loses her anger.

'Look, my tractor broke down, and I went to Bulma to get it fixed, but she wasn't home,' he begins to narrate. 'After that, I was just flying around, thinking about what I would do, and then I heard a noise in town as I was flying over it. When I got closer to it, I saw a crowd with Mr. Satan inside a ring, and I thought he was just giving his usual TV stuff. I was going to fly away, because I hate those interview things, they always make me feel uncomfortable, but I remembered that Mr. Satan's also good at fixing things, so I went down there.'

To see if she's following him so far, he stops talking, only, she silently just looks at him, like she's waiting for him to get to the best part. It looks like has no choice but to continue reporting how she came to find him in that deceiving position.

'When Mr. Satan saw me, he looked really glad, so offered me his match. He was going to fight this guy, but he wanted me to fight that guy in exchange for fixing my tractor…'

Mr. Satan didn't say those words exactly, he corrects himself. His exact words had been about 'fixing the tractor later, because for now, there was a fight to be had.' He, desperate to have his tractor fixed, of course took them to mean the same thing as; fight now, for fixing later.

'I said no at first,' he continues. 'I really did, Chi-Chi. I didn't want to take his fight, because I wouldn't want someone to take my fight. Also, you remember how I asked you this morning if I could go to train, and you said no, so I didn't want to take his fight. But then…' at this point, he pauses only clear his throat in preparation for what he will say next. 'I was tempted and itching to use my body, so I said yes. When I was getting ready to start the fight, you came, and then I ran away. I didn't fight, I swear, Chi-Chi. You saw Mr. Satan punch me, because I asked him to, so people wouldn't know that I can fly. I didn't do anything.'

Okay, he lets out a long breath, that's his truth.

'You did nothing?' she finally speaks after his piece.

'I swear I didn't do anything. I didn't fight and I didn't go looking for a fight.'

It was just a case of things being perceived in the wrong way, nothing more than that, thankfully.

'So…' she studies him carefully. 'I _was_ wrong?'

Not to seem like he's accusing her, he only nods. It doesn't matter that he jumped to the conclusion that he rebelled against her word, to have a little fun on the side, because he is not one to rub people's mistakes in their face.

'Wow,' she weakly sighs. 'I'm sorry, Goku.'

'It's okay,' he accepts her apology with a smile, but she shakes her head, refusing his acceptance.

'No. I overreacted, and that isn't okay. I kept you out of the house, and dinner, because of that. You would've slept outside, all because I overreacted without talking to you first.'

'Eh,' he shrugs her guilt away. 'It's over. I'm here now.'

He means it. That there's nothing more to feel guilty about. He hadn't even been hoping for an apology. All he wanted, was for her to believe him, and then let go of her anger, not more than that. He appreciates that she's apologetic, though. Even more, he appreciates the unsure air that she adopts around her, making her look half shy and half sceptical.

Cute. An unsure Chi-Chi… That's quite cute. Especially when she rolls her lower lip into her mouth like that…

'Do you want to forgive me, please?' she timidly asks.

'Sure, I want-'

'Will you forgive me for jumping to conclusions and making you sleep outside?' she cuts him off from finishing

'Yeah, I forgive you.'

'Thank you,' she breathes out thankfully, to which he holds up his left hand between them.

They've done it often enough, for her to know that his held up hand means a shared high five between them. She does recognise his cue, slapping her palm against his, only, she also rotates her hand, to grasp his hand within hers.

'Let me make it up to you, please,' she insists, tugging on his hand. 'Whatever you want.'

Hmm... Whatever he wants? What _does_ he want?

'I don't want to take a bath,' he provides, 'so please don't complain about that. I just wanna eat and then sleep in our warm bed.'

'Nothing else?' her eyebrows raise in surprise. 'What can I do, to undo how I made you feel?'

'Hmm…' he shakes his head, briefly looking at the ceiling. 'Nothing else. Just that.'

He means, he could always ask for one of those foot massages of hers, that make him fall asleep easier and more comfortably, but nah, he's already forgotten the cold and unwanted feeling that he felt outside. He'll keep the foot massage for another day, because tonight, he just wants to be fed and soon after fall asleep in his bed, next to her. That she knows the truth, and they are fine, is honestly exactly what he needs tonight. Nothing more.

'You're fantastic, Goku,' she raves. 'I love you so much.'

As if to seal the words in, she brings their joined hands to her lips, only planting a soft kiss on the back of his hand. It's a really simple gesture, but when put together with the affirming, loving and welcoming words into her heart, his heart's response is naturally to warm up. What does he know, he needed to hear that from her, evidently.

* * *

 **Twenty-fourth,** Reserved Goku.


	24. Chapter 24

**Twenty-fourth,** Reserved Goku.

* * *

He hears Chi-Chi shout his name. His eyes aren't open yet, but he knows that it's her shouting his name from a distance. It's only her, it can't be anyone else.

What's going on, though? Why is she shouting his name? What did he do?

He then hears Goten call for her, and he starts to wonder if he's at home, and it's just one of those mornings, where Goten has to leave for school, but he can't find his shoes. That could be it. He's lived through that routine enough times: Chi-Chi, in the kitchen, calling for him to wake up, and Goten adding to the noise, by calling for her to help him with one thing or another that he can't find.

That routine usually takes a while, and if that's the case, he's safe. For at least three more minutes, he can keep his eyes closed. It will take that long, for her to attend to Goten, shout his name four more times while she's at it, and then come to yank the blankets off of his body. He soon realises that he won't get his three minutes, if that running and panting that his ears are picking up, are what they sound like. He better open his eyes, to have them open by the time that Chi-chi comes in here.

Upon opening his eyes, she shouts his name again, and he swears he hears her make a jump from a high place. The sound of moving air that usually follows a jump that's made, can't be mistaken for any other thing. Except... That can't be right. There's no jumping place in their room. She can't have jumped from a high place in their room... He's either dreaming, or his ears are deceiving him.

She calls his name again at this time, breaking through his own doubt, and so, with his eyes open, to confirm his consciousness, he lifts his head to find her, and that is precisely when she lands next to him. He can either confirm that she's jumped, or that he's conscious, but he doesn't immediately know what's going on, or what to trust, and-

'Goku!'

His name came out like a wave of frenzy from her mouth, and he, feeling a way of confused, lifts his body up, and begins to look around. Except for the two of them, there's no one else close around. He also observes that this is nowhere inside their house, which is… Strange, he wants to think, considering how the scenario that just happened seemed so like a regular home routine, but then... His memory is starting to come back to him... He remembers a white fight ring. He remembers Frost. He remembers a match. He remembers wanting to win. He remembers... Nothing much after Frost punching him, but one thing that he is sure of, is that if he's not in the ring anymore, he's obviously lost the match.

Oh man...

He speaks his loss aloud, feeling the smallest bit disappointed with himself for not guarding himself. He supposes that to comfort him, Chi-Chi throws herself onto him, getting very close to his skin, and talking about how she thought that he had died. His response, is to relax into her, to welcome the comfort of her hold overriding his careless loss. That only lasts for a second, because when he blinks to clear his sight, turning his head just a little bit, he catches a glimpse of all the bodies up there, silent to his ears, but visible to his eyes.

Uh-oh! Everyone's watching them.

Wow! Every single person, high up there, is watching him and her.

He softly, but urgently tells her this, so as not to use his hands to remove her from him. It's not that he doesn't want her clinging onto him, it's that she shouldn't do it in front of people. More specifically, in front of people whose attention is solely fixed on them, able to see everything going on between them, without hindrance. The very thought of that, get him nervous, uncomfortably so, to the point of feeling an itch creep up along his skin.

The thing is, while touch from his wife is a different type of connection, meaning much more than just touch, he cannot have it be seen by other people. That's one of the ways that she communicates her love for him, and he for her, so it wouldn't be special if it includes other people. Besides that, there's the fact that he hasn't made a reputation for himself as a softy, capable of melting at the touch of his wife. He'd be put in such an awkward position, if their watchers get even an idea of how he behaves around his wife in private. It's so just warm and cuddly, inviting tingling sensation to his body, when she touches his, that it's so easy to fall into it... Get lost in...

He's sorry, but that side of him, he doesn't anyone but Chi-Chi to see. Not even Goten. Goten looks at him with such wonder and admiration in his eyes, he can't have that perception shattered. Also, he doesn't want to look like a monkey in the zoo, under the keenly watchful eyes of the viewers once he gets his favourite snack, only to see him let loose and get wild with excitement. No, thank you, that's sort of embarrassing to have all eyes on him like that. He'll do very well without the exposure, which is why he's glad when Frost interrupts them, and she releases him.

Phew, that had been close. He would have started sweating, otherwise.

Thanks to Frost declaring both of their victories, he now has this moment to make everyone forget what they just saw. He wants them to forget about the woman who screamed his name, flew from her seat, ran the distance between, and then jumped the stage, _just_ to get to him on the floor and care for him, not caring about the consequences of what she just did. That speaks too much about their relationship, to people who aren't a part of it, to hold in their memories. He needs them to forget all that, involving his wife. As they are clapping, though, he can't resist leaning into her.

'I'm fine, Chi-Chi,' he whispers as close to her ear as he can get. 'And I'm taking you back now. You need to put your arm around my back, and hold on.'

Just so she can feel him close, to assuage her worry, under the excuse of taking her back to her seat, he'll carry her back in his arms. That's what he wants anyway.

'Fine,' she accepts while getting into his arms. 'Just don't scare me like that again,' she adds, trying to nuzzle him as she hangs on to him.

'Don't,' he quietly warns.

He can't have her do that. Carrying her over to her spectator seat, is the normal thing to do. _That_ wouldn't raise intimacy curiosity in the people watching. Nuzzling his neck on the other hand, no. Just no. That's special and intimate, and that intimate stuff, is for private time, not for everyone else to see. That's just who he is.

* * *

 **Twenty-fifth,** Transformed Goku.


	25. Chapter 25

**Twenty-fifth,** Transformed Goku.

* * *

After the long and frightening day yesterday, she deems it appropriate for her to stay in bed a little longer than usual. Her responsibilities mean nothing to her today, because there's just so much to celebrate this morning, and she'd rather do it from the comfort of her bed. In the embrace of her husband, of course. What's the point of celebrating life, celebrating all that they didn't lose yesterday, if she can't do it with the man who made it possible for all of them to still be here?

'Goku?' she softly calls, looking over to her left.

'Chi-Chi,' he responds as fluently as someone half asleep is able to do.

'I'm staying in bed with you today,' she tells him.

She expected a low mumbling of the word 'okay,' instead, he makes a noise similar to grumbling, while lifting his arm high up as he extends it over her way, in an arched shape.

'Come,' she distinctly hears him invite her.

Absolutely, she'll move into him.

With a fluttering stomach at how unexpectedly his invitation synched with her morning desire, she scurries over to her left, and properly tucks into him. As she smiles against him, feeling some triumph for getting what she wants, he drops his arm down, to secure it around her form.

Ah, she lets out a contented breath, she's going to enjoy this day.

She's in the arms of the one she loves, her leg is placed between his legs, her head is laid on his chest, and one of her arms is wound around him, so there's nothing more to ask for. She's just going to lie here, breathing together with him, and be thankful for what she has.

There's so much of life to be thankful for. There's Videl's pregnancy to be thankful for -ooh, she cannot _wait_ to be a grandmother. There's the fact that the world wasn't destroyed, to be thankful for. There's her husband's determination to be thankful for –his determination which kept him going on with Lord Beerus, even after losing his godly power-

His godly power. The memory sparks in her mind, and suddenly, she's excited to the point of lifting her head off his chest. That had been a thrilling transformation to see happen right before her eyes… How could she have forgotten about that?

'Goku?' she carefully starts, while wishfully looking at his resting face.

'Chi-Chi,' he replies.

'Do you remember yesterday with Beerus?'

'Yesterday with Lord Beerus?'

'Yes,' she says, excitedly nodding even though his eyes aren't open to see her do so.

'Yeah, I remember,' he answers, and then turns his head the other way; away from her.

'Can you do it again?'

Slowly, he turns his head back to her, as if to say that he's not all the way prepared for what she'll ask of him, once he does look at her. He then opens one eye, the one not pressed into his pillow, and studies her for a second.

He shouldn't look at her like that, gosh! She's not going to ask him to get beaten up by that Beerus god. She would never ask for that, and he should know that.

'Fight with him?' he finally asks once he's studied her enough.

'No,' she shakes her head. 'I mean the Super Saiyan God person. I want to see _him_ again.'

She has to, has to see him again. This is her day off, she's taking her busy and responsible shoes off, solely to indulge in the pleasure of catering to her pleasure seeking person, so she has to, has to see that Super Saiyan God person again. It'll give her so much pleasure to see him; a god.

'The Super Saiyan God?' he repeats, probably for clarity, only to respond with, 'That was borrowed power, Chi-Chi not mine.'

She knows that, she was there, she saw the whole thing happening before her eyes, and she remembers feeling such pride that her husband was the one ascending to the level of gods for the first time, but she still wants to see him again. She just has to see him.

'You were so much thinner then,' she comments, unwinding her arm from around him, to softly poke his side. 'I don't know if I prefer him, or this one.'

Attempting to bring that conversation to an end, he shuts his open eye, saying, 'Like this me. You like this me better. You don't even like me being Super Saiyan blonde.'

The blonde of his Super Saiyan form is not what she doesn't like, she answers in her head. What she doesn't like, is that his transformations remind her that he's more of a target, but he doesn't need to know that, ever.

'I like the other one,' she tells him, her eyes running over him.

'Then buy hair dye for me, if the red hair's what you want,' he jokes.

'Just transform, Goku.'

'I can't, Chi-Chi,' he replies, turning his head away from her again. 'I don't even want to do that again. Borrowing power isn't my thing.'

Within, she truly understands that about him, but the thing is, he doesn't have to borrow the power. For one thing, she can't picture Vegeta, Gohan, Goten, Trunks and Videl congregated in her room, doing the borrowing to Goku, and for another, he's Goku. He _must_ have that power stored somewhere in the memories within him. As his wife, she's sure of that, because he's Goku. Somehow, somewhere, the Super Saiyan God power must be waiting for activation inside of him.

'You don't have to borrow power. You already know how that power feels like,' she tries to persuade him. 'I just want to see him again.'

'I can't do it,' he groans. 'And even if I could, I'd have to find a trigger to bring it out of me. I can't just focus on a tingly sensation in my body, and then I'm a Super Saiyan God. I need motivation, I guess.'

Motivation?

More than just her head perks up at that piece of information. All of a sudden, unlike before, she's no longer interested in being tucked into her husband, and lazing the morning away in his arms. Rather, she's feeling the exciting tickle of a challenge, to be the one who brings out the Super Saiyan God power.

'You need motivation?' she asks for simple clarity.

'I guess,' he slowly gives her. 'I don't know… Like something either really exciting to look forward to if I transform, or fear of losing something important if I don't.'

That's all she needs to know, to quickly remove herself from his hold, taking all of her body parts off him. He audibly makes a sound of complaint that she's moving away from him after she said that's he would spend the morning in bed with him, but she ignores it. She has to think about this.

Motivation, motivation… Hmm… He said that he needs motivation, and she knows that she just has to see that Goku again, so… What can she use to lure him into showing his power?

Call upon Beerus? No, that could be dangerous for the Earth. She has a grandbaby on the way.

Cook him a feast and withhold it until he transforms? No, he'll surely find a way to get her to cave.

Give him a free pass at tending to their to-be farm? No, he doesn't see how that will excite him to the point of transforming.

Withhold sex from him until the time of transformation? No, he'd still find a way to break down her defences. It wouldn't take much from him in that scenario, if she's being honest.

However, speaking of sex… There is a way that she could use it to her advantage. Since she's taking a lazy day, she _might as well_ have fun motivating him, in one of the surest ways to weaken his resolve... She has it now, she'll be his motivation. Oh, his motivation she'll be. Even if it takes all morning, she _will_ bring out his Super Saiyan God person.

'Goku-'

At the same time that she begins to call for his attention, a loud knock comes from their door, followed a stretched, 'Mooooooom!'

Goten's awake. It's unusual that he's managed to wake himself up earlier than he would, if she didn't wake him in the morning, but oh well, attending to Goten now, will be the perfect time to come up with a seduction plan for her longed for god transformation.

'Coming, Goten,' she answers.

* * *

 **26Chapters**

* * *

She didn't tell him yet, because she didn't get the chance to, but it was so nice to be there for a big change of his for once. All her married life, she's been there for so many things in her sons' lives, but for Goku, she hasn't really been there, expect for when he defeated Piccolo that _first_ time. It had been great then, to get engaged to the champion of the world, after having witnessed his determined show of power, but he's grown so much stronger and better since then, and for all the consequent transformations that he achieved, she wasn't present for.

 _Sigh_ , she hasn't been part of any of Goku's great milestones. That's why it's so important for her to see this Super Saiyan God _by_ herself. She wants to poke him all over, and feel the difference between his thinner muscles and his thicker ones. She wants to see if his red hair has a courser or softer texture, than his black hair. She wants to see if the power of a god, has a different tone when planting kisses in places that aren't visible to the outside world. She wants to know if his god form can lift her with a single finger, twirling her in the air with ease, or if it would take two fingers to fit her between them.

Basically, she just wants to experience what no one else can, what no one else will ever have the privilege to.

His friends may see his god transformation in the future, and they may be there to watch him fight with it, (even that Beerus god can fight him, toe to toe, fist to fist, in the flesh) but she will always remain the _only_ one to fully explore his power in ways that no one else would ever be able to. Something as simple as studying him up close, not even Krillin would be able to do. Goten and Gohan, most likely, but none after them. To just think that when Goku transforms, she can spend the rest of the morning asleep wrapped up in the arms of a _god_ , an actual god... And later, when they awaken, she could share a shower with a god, or a bath, if that's what he would want… She wonders, would the water know him as a god, and a result, part where it needs to part, without command?

Oooooh… She'll find out, she giggles to herself, feeling the chills of excitement bursting under her skin.

She definitely explore his god nature, because she's finally come up with the perfect plan to get him there. To start her plan off, she sets the oven timer for exactly ten minutes after closing the tray of muffins in there. She won't need more time than that, and neither will the muffins. Afterwards, she walks over to the door leading into their house, going over to lock it. It's slightly unnecessary to lock the door, since she bribed Goten with camping tonight, if he stays _all day_ at Trunks', but she can never be too sure. Locking the door is an extra measure of privacy that she needs to take.

Having done that, she goes over to the bedroom, where Goku is still lounging about in bed. Promptly closing and locking this door as well, she pushes her loose trousers down her legs and then steps out of them. While clearly, Goku isn't asleep, he doesn't stir in the bed, he simply continues to lay on his stomach, without acknowledging the sounds of her presence. She'll only have his attention if she calls for him, it seems, and so she does.

'Goku?'

'Hm?'

'Can I borrow you for less than ten minutes?'

Less than ten minutes, because by now, she must have nine minutes and twenty seconds. There is no way the timer could have waited for her to do all that she did, to begin its countdown. Neither is there any way that the timer will wait for her to organise herself, which is why she has to act within the time that she has set for herself. And anyway, the set time aside, this plan has to work. It's not every day that she thinks up, really concocts a seduction plan in her mind, to get something that she wants form her husband. Most of the time, when she's seducing him, she just makes it up as she goes along, and it always works then, meaning there's no reason why a thought out seduction plan would not work.

'Right now?' he groans out, sounding just a second away from refusing her.

'Yes, now.'

'I wanna just lie here,' he replies. 'I don't wanna do anything.'

And there's the golden answer, she triumphantly smiles to herself. She had been counting on him telling her, because it sets her plan exactly on the right path.

'Okay,' she returns. 'You don't have to do anything. You can just lie there. You won't even touch me.'

Now the not touching her part, is vital. It's not a definite rule per se, although, if he knows her, he'll soon realise that her relieving him of no touching her at all, is an offer that he shouldn't have made a way for in the first place.

'Why? What do you wanna do?' he asks suspiciously as he rolls over onto his back and lifts his head to look at her.

The suspense must be seeping into his skin like liquid into fabric, slowly altering his original unbothered state. She likes that. It means that she's that much closer to achieving her end goal. And speaking of reaching her goal… Instead of opening her mouth to answer him, she keeps her eyes on his, allowing her mouth to draw up a sweetly innocent smile, as though she is clueless as to what he's talking about, and then begins to walk to him on the bed. As she does, her fingers get to work on the buttons of her blue shirt. When she'd put it on, she'd been in a rush to get to Goten, but now she is quite glad that she opted for this particular shirt.

It must add so much more to the beginning of her seduction; walking towards him, while undoing the full line of buttons holding her shirt securely around her.

Just watching him watching her, she can almost feel what he's feeling all the way over there. Even so, making a guess at what he must be feeling, she creates a small luxurious scenario in her head, where to him, she's that prize that he's won after all of his hard work, slowly emerging from a cloud of thick smoke, unwrapping itself in the process of becoming clearer to him, so that when she reaches him, all he has to do is claim her. That scenario makes for a much better story in her head, than simply knowing that he's waiting for her to reach her. The latter has no real substance of palpableness as the former does, thus, her hanging onto the other scenario.

Right before she makes it to take her place on the bed with him, she begins to push the shirt off her shoulder, only to change her mind at the last second as she'd planned. Only her brain knows how it doesn't send a signal for a smile at the moment, because seeing his eyes grow in size, is something to observe. Much more, when she settle onto her back next to him. He's all the way alert now, even turning on his back to rest on his side, facing her. Taking advantage of his position, she wiggles her body into a sexy position, all the while opening her legs and teasing her hands hooking into her cotton underwear, as though to remove them. Not bothering to see how he's reacting to this, she lifts her bum off the bed, again, to give of the illusion that she is going to take her underwear off.

She doesn't take anything off, obviously, rather, she takes his first reachable hand, and guides it to the place between her thighs. Lightly, she leads his hand to brush over her, just three very specific brushing strokes, until she feels that she's given him just a little taste of what's to come. Next, with her hand holding his away from her centre, she climbs on top of him, softly clearing her throat, to ensure that a smoky tone comes from her mouth when she speaks.

'I was wondering, Goku…'

Trailing off on purpose, for the right effect, she drops his hand, then brings hers hand to her shoulder like she's going to scratch it, when in reality, she's only baiting him to watch the shirt slip past her shoulder and expose one of her breasts in its wake.

'If you want to turn into a Super Saiyan God,' she completes her previous incomplete spoken wonder.

The interesting thing to note here is that he's fully capable of seeing her undressed from head to toe on the normal day, and not run wild with desire. Except now, because she's carefully watching him, he's already caught under the spell of arousal. He's swallowing, and no wonder, his eyes aren't exactly on her eyes. No, they're looking much, much lower than her neck.

'Right now?' he asks, keeping his eyes exactly where they are.

'Right now,' she confirms.

As if the reality of the situation just hits him then, he brings his eyes back to hers, to tell her, 'I can't.'

It's no problem, she thinks. She didn't expect him to transform right away anyway. That's what her ten minutes are for. He should simply wait…

'So…' she inhales, looking right into his eyes, before closing her eyes and tipping her head back for that dramatically sensual air. Only once she's let out a small baiting groan, does she bring her head back in place, asking him, 'What do you think I'm going to do to you?'

He blinks. Just that for a moment, and then a coarse, 'Uh…'

In turn, she smiles, because thank goodness she knows her husband. She knows how to more or less trap him and where, when he's not alert. His speechlessness is proof that this is going to go exactly is she wants it to go.

'Wrong,' she says. 'I'm going to do this…'

This, as she referred to it as, is shaking her shoulders, to get the shirt off her completely. As it falls, it comes to pool around her middle, where she's seated on him. She doubts that he even feels the shirt softly land on him, since his eyes widen a little bit more than before, maybe to accommodate the generous picture that he's looking at.

'Do you like the view?'

It's an unnecessary question, judging by his keen interest in what he's looking, but he nods anyway. Good, if he likes the view, then he'll do what she says to keep seeing it.

'So, do you want to turn Super Saiyan God now?'

'I can't,' he groans, almost like he's regretting the answer itself.

No problem, she thinks to herself. Now's not his time, and that's okay, but it also means that she gets to carry on doing what she set out to do from the beginning.

Tactfully bending down, she places her lips over his in a kiss. It's not a hard kiss, one full of determination, neither is it a serious kiss, one that massages his mouth for a response, but it's kiss all the same. Even he recognises her kiss as a kiss, because he starts to respond, only, she craftily pulls herself back up, denying him the chance of kissing her.

'Do you want to turn Super Saiyan God now?' she asks, purposefully keeping her eyes on his lips.

The very same negative answer that she expects, is the exact one that she gets in the form of a swallow. He can't, in other words. Apparently, she's not motivating him enough. She needs to work harder. Go further, she means. That's what she means, not harder… _Harder_ is what she should aim for, from him.

'Fine,' she calmly says.

Following that, she climbs off him, off the bed altogether, in fact, and then walks around to end of the, where his legs are. First kneeling on the mattress to tease him some, she pulls her abandoned shirt off him, flinging it on the side of the bed, and then only does she climb onto the bed. In the space between his legs, her hands begin at his ankles, slowly travelling up. When she reaches the bottom end of his thighs, she begins to knead her palms onto his hard muscles, while her thumbs deeply press into his flesh in a slow massage as she travels upwards. At the spot where his thighs separate to never meet again, (for the defined barrier between them) she grazes her knuckles against the centre of him, deliberately touching him over his loose underwear.

'Sorry,' she falsely apologises, before she makes her hands disappear under his underwear on either thigh.

'Fhgh,' he sharply lets out as he sucks in a surprised breath.

Good. Very good. That's a sensitive spot for him, she knows. And because it is, she gives it a longer massage, teasing getting a fraction of a centimetre close to his centre. When she lifts her eyes to him, she finds that he's attentively looking at her, and so, while she can see the expression on his face, she tucks one hand under his manhood, gently runs her hand over it like a potter would do to clay that he is looking to carefully mould, causing him to suck in a breath again. Now's the perfect time to move her hand from him.

'Og!' he cries helplessly, looking up at her. 'Why did you move your hand?'

Verbally ignoring him, she shrugs his question away. She then straightens and returns to sitting on his abdomen again. Like that, she starts to study his muscles with her hands, from the stomach going on. The difference between the exploration before and now, is that the higher that her hands go, the lower she takes her body, until her exposed breasts are touching his chest. Having her front pressed on his, she lowers her head to his ear.

'What should I do next?' she whispers.

'Chi-Chi…'

He sounds like he's out of breath, and warning or encouraging her all at the same time. So passionate in speaking her name, that he brings up his hands to touch her, possessively clutching them on her back, as his lips move to begin suckling on her neck, and oh gosh…

The starved sound that he's making over her neck… The long breaths that are coming out of him… His teeth grazing her skin… All of that… It's the first time since her seduction that she's feeling the receptive side of intent to arouse. She hadn't felt anything close to what she believes Goku, the anticipating receiver, has been feeling, but that's slowly starting to change. If he continues to move his lips over her neck, she'll be finished. She's already starting to pant…

'Tell me, Goku…' she continues to whisper, barely keeping from groaning.

She chooses abandon the muscle exploration, to retrieve one of his hands on her back, because she has to give him something else to focus on. Something that's not her neck, so like an expert puppeteer, she leads his hand up her body, to cup her breast for a small moment, and then continues to lead it down her belly. She has to arch her back along with the movement of their hands, to create enough moving space between them, but eventually, their hands reach the beginning of her underwear as she wanted to do.

'What should I do next?' she finishes, keeping his hand exactly where it is.

As his hand stills as per her lead, his lips also still on her neck, which gives Chi-Chi her power back. With him like that, caught between the two things, her neck or inside her underwear, and apparently not willing to divide attention between the two, she feels right in her role again. This is how it should be, because as exciting as seducing him is, she shouldn't be finding this as erotic as he should. Their positions are different, and on a normal day, if the roles were reversed, Goku would have just as much fun teasing her, where she would be on the edge of her nerves waiting to experience pleasure from him. This return of power in her hand is just perfect, seeing as she didn't design this seduction play for herself.

'Lie on your back,' he huskily pants in response, urging to push his hand into her underwear.

'No,' she laughs, partly celebrating how she has him burning up for her.

She hopes that her laugh sounds like a cruel rejection. It would be the perfect bait to make him determined not to lose.

'Lie on your back,' he repeats, lifting her together with him and the tips of his fingers of the hand on her back presses deep into her flesh.

'I said no,' she maintains, freeing herself from him. 'I'll take off these instead.'

Very quickly, she straightens onto her feet on the bed, and sinks her own hand beneath her underwear, thereafter pushing it down her legs. After lifting each foot to cleanly get rid of her underwear, and then tossing all the way to the other side of the room, she takes two careful steps back, aligning herself with his knees.

'No,' he verbally disapproves, almost reaching out a hand to stop. 'Don't go.'

Oh, he shouldn't worry about that, she's not going where anywhere he won't want her to be. Not until he becomes what she wants him to be anyway.

'Why not?' she arches an eyebrow. 'Are you going to turn Super Saiyan God now?'

'I said I can't,' he groans in frustration, fully sitting up, while she gently plonks onto his knees.

At his knees, she straddles him one second, and then abruptly pulls his underwear down. Thankfully, it's loose on his body, and it won't hurt to stay lodged between his thighs and knees.

'Do you want to turn Super Saiyan God yet, Goku?'

A pained look appears on his face, but he doesn't say anything. She knows why that pained look. The reason is quite literally, upright in her face. All this time, she's been ignoring it, but she's honestly been feeling its gradual rise. Mostly, his hand inside her underwear was the canon to the show she's seeing now.

'Do you?' she urges him for an answer, knowing very well that she is not going to get one. 'How about if I do this?'

With both of her hands, she starts massaging along him, starting from the base to the tip. At the tip, the forefinger of her left hand traces ever so carefully. His very audible hiss, strangely makes her want to take him into the real realm of pleasure… Nonetheless, determined to get what she wants, she repeats the massage only once, and then leans her head down, mouth open and ready, to take most of him inside.

Heavily, at first contact, he groans. And he groans properly, while she evenly spreads her saliva all over him. She won't need lubricate him that much, seeing as she's somewhat also there in that plane of arousal, but she still takes her time wetting him with her mouth. Soon after that, not allowing him to wonder what she will do next when her mouth lets him go, she pulls herself up and then sinks onto him.

While she, unlike him, had some degree of preparation, she's still surprised by the feeling of being filled. Here, she doesn't even bother to keep her long moan in, because her moan will serve to stroke his ego (and his other one, of course), thus, getting her closer to her goal of seeing what she wants to see.

'How about now?' she asks, staying completely still. 'Do you want to turn Super Saiyan God yet?'

'Move,' he moans through closed eyes. 'Please.'

Feeling like she's getting closer, she gets off him, in order to make him miss her, and then she asks, 'And now?'

He opens his eyes, looks at her like she's losing her mind, but also like he's closer to losing his mind than her, and because of that, she takes him inside of her again. The contact is even better than before… Holding her breath for a moment is all she can do to keep herself moving like he asked her to.

'Do you…' she weakly starts only to pause and take another steadying breath, 'Want to turn Super Saiyan God _now_?'

 _Say yes_ , she silently prays, _just say yes_.

'I can't,' he breathe like a man about to die, who's concentrating on not losing himself to death.

The big fire burning in his eyes, lets her know that she's done her job well, and so she pulls away from him, to climb off him completely.

'Never mind,' she says, her legs already reaching to get out of the bed.

'You can't do that,' he refuses to accept where she's left him.

It's just then, that the oven timer goes off, and with that as her excuse, she hastily jumps out of bed. The giggles that leave her mouth, she didn't plan for, except, it's suddenly so funny how she just left him (and herself) wanting like that.

'Hey,' he tries to stop her with his voice. 'Where are you going?'

'My muffins are ready,' she says, walking to get her underwear.

Never mind where her shirt is, she just needs her underwear for now. If only she hadn't thrown her underwear so far away. Before she can make it to her underwear, however, he appears behind her, sternly declaring his presence there by firmly pressing his hands on her waist. In the next second, he has her bend over, her hands almost touching her feet, and is firmly pushing into her seemingly all at once.

Where her giggles had been sounding in the room, only soft moaning can be heard, as he slowly pulls out of her. It's like he can't wait to get inside, and then doesn't want to get out, but he is forced to move for this to be effective, so he's left with no choice but to withdraw agonisingly slowly, but tightly firm to push in. It's wonderful.

'I'm not the god that you want me to be right now,' he gently reasons, further pushing into her body. 'But I still want to love you, okay?'

Yes. It's okay. She doesn't care about the Super Saiyan God anymore. She doesn't care. She just doesn't care. She doesn't even want to speak.

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 **26Chapters**

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Her plan didn't reach this stage of an outcome, oddly enough. She'd mapped out her seduction, and she had more or less guessed his responses, which would then lead her to do the next step in her plan, however, she didn't think that after she'd managed to seduce him into transforming, she'd be, well, satisfied to the point of drowsiness.

All right, fine, she failed in getting him to transform, but her seduction worked in a way. She always knew that at some point, he'd have her, and he did. It's only that she didn't realise how passionate he would be about the whole thing. Ah, the loving words he spoke close to her ear during his taking of her, sung such high energy songs to her heart, that it danced itself to exhaustion. That's how she's here, exhausted, but satisfied, not in the least bothered by her plan's failure.

All she wants to do… No, in fact, all she's going to do now, is tuck into him, much like she did a bit earlier, and spend the day with him in bed as it had been her plan from the beginning of the day. He might want something to snack on, seeing as he didn't at all get out of bed, not even to have a cup of tea, so she'll steer him in the direction of food, if he'd like that.

'There are muffins in the oven, if you want,' she tells him, a yawn building up within her.

Because he responds with nothing to her information, she takes that to mean that he is just as satisfied as she is, and he has no intention of breaking the moment of his basking for anything.

'I promised Goten that we would have a bonfire outside tonight,' she tells him again. 'We'll be camping outside, so he might bring Trunks.'

That's also important information that he has to know, so he can prepare his mind for what will happen later on tonight, but still, he doesn't respond to her.

'You might want to unlock the front door as well, I locked that just in case,' she passes on, this time following her words with a lazy yawn.

She's briefly curious if the breath from her yawn is a little uncomfortable on his skin… It doesn't matter, though, she quickly brings her mind away from that thought. It doesn't matter, because she's so at peace. She's calm and sleepy, and… Aah. Tomorrow morning, she'll send Goku with a food pack to Beerus, for being the reason they are even able to enjoy this late morning in this way.

'Chi-Chi?' at last he speaks.

Smiling faintly, she does what he did earlier as a way of responding to him, 'Goku.'

'I want to turn Super Saiyan God now.'

'Yeah?'

She's so sleepy. He sounds serious, though, it's just that she's so sleepy. There's an enchanting breeze of air calling her mind's attention, and it's so lovely.

'Yeah,' he replies. 'You were right, Chi-Chi. I have it within me. I feel like I can transform now.'

'That's nice,' she lazily says.

That's good for him. She never doubted him anyway, she's always know that he has it within him, it was just a matter of bringing it out of himself.

'Yeah,' he agrees, a smile audible in his tone. 'I feel like I have the entire world right now. Like a god.'

Although quite enraptured by sleep, she's still able to produce small shivers on her body, for the fact her husband more or less just alluded to her being the entire world, and thus, making him feel like a god. It's a chilling thing to entertain in her mind, because after doing what she did, all that seduction, she only needed to have lain in bed with, to make him feel like a god.

Mhmm. She should've known.

'I did it,' he announces. 'I'm a Super Saiyan God again. Look, Chi-Chi.'

Only because he sounds so proud of himself, she opens her eyes to look at him. She thankfully doesn't have to do more than adjust the angle of her head, to find the red eyes, the red hair, the look of love in his eyes, and the soft smile directed at her. Effortlessly, she smiles back at him.

'You're a god,' she says, proud of him more than awed by his transformation.

Responding, he silently kisses her forehead, lingering there for some seconds. As his lips remain on her forehead, she closes her eyes again, and settles herself into him, to try and fall into the sleep that's inviting her.

'Hey!' he nudges her softly after pulling his lips away. 'Are you sleeping? You wanted me to transform, and now you're just going to sleep?'

'I've seen you,' she answers him, because that's enough.

'And?'

'And what?' she yawns again.

'Which do you prefer? This me, or the other one?'

'The other one,' easily leaves her mouth.

'But that's what I said,' he seems to be arguing his point, 'and you said you wanted…'

Whatever more he says after that, she shuts out the clarity of his words. There's really no competition between the two. Being the ambitious person that she is, always aiming for the best, she'd been floored with pride and astonishment at the visible presentation of a god for a husband, but as it turns out, she'll take regular black haired and eyed Goku over any god he could ever become. Besides, that black Goku is _naturally_ hers. She doesn't have to work out plans on how to bring him out from within, he's just there, readily loving her without her command. That god one is too much work. He's probably for dire and threatening situations, not loving ones. It surely makes sense that she couldn't seduce him out of her _regular Goku_.

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 **Twenty-sixth,** Assured Gohan.


	26. Chapter 26

**Twenty-sixth,** Assured Gohan.

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Aha! He knew it!

Right from the start, he knew that his dad _hadn't_ been planning some great secret surprise. Whatever his dad did, or said to make his mom believe that he had plans to do something special, must've been the promise of one touching gesture to convince her. As for him, however, from the beginning, he's always had the suspicion that there was something different about his father's behaviour. It's his suspicion that's had him following his father around for three days, (between his classes, of course) to discover that sure enough, he's been correct all of this time.

The evidence is right there.

If he just looks around the tree that he's hiding behind, he'll see the proof in the form of excitement on his dad's face, and Whis being the source of that excitement. That's his evidence, and he's quite glad to be right, it's only that he can't jump for joy at that. He can't rejoice, because one, really, this isn't an exam, which will help him get ahead in his studies, so celebrating his correctness has well, no benefit. And two, being right means that his mom is going to let his dad have it, once she finds out what he's really not been doing during this time of deception.

Spying on the exchange between Whis and his dad right now, it's clear that his dad is prepared to leave just as he is, and that can only mean that he'd never been planning anything on the side in the first place.

Oh man. Oh no, oh no!

This is bad. It's so bad that he has to clutch the sides of his head. He just doesn't understand… Just _who_ is that man talking to Whis? It can't be his dad, because his dad knows his mom…

His dad knows that when his mom learns of what he's planning on doing, she'll mix all of her feelings together; the ones of her version of betrayal, the ones about his dad leaving so suddenly, _and_ the ones about realising that his dad's presence (which she's been enjoying for seven months without interruption), will be taken away from her. And then, when that mixture has been stirred to the perfect blend, his poor dad will most likely die from the explosion that comes from her. His poor dad.

Look at his dad. He's just over there, enjoying the thought of taking off with Whis for training, that he doesn't realise what could happen to him, if things go wrong.

If only the Great Saiyaman were around, Gohan thinks to himself. That guy would be able to save the day... Or not, he reconsiders. The Great Saiyaman is more experienced in dealing with the coarser matters of life. Matters which need his extraordinary power of strength to resolve, unlike this one. This matter is more delicate, and unfortunately, the Great Saiyaman won't be any help, which leaves everything up to him, plain Gohan. He'll have to be the one to make sure that his dad follows his desired training path, without his mom hearing about it until there's nothing that she can do about it.

He loves his mother, he really does, but it's been close to seven months that his dad has been home, doing what he was supposed to do, and being part of the family, so it's only fair that his dad goes off training when he wants to. That's why it's up to him, plain Gohan, not the Great Saiyaman, to protect (and preserve) his father's prospective training.

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 **26Chapters**

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He's quite thankful that his mother is a woman who stays put and doesn't all that much leave the house for leisure purposes. Had that been the case with her, he would be feeling the full effect of his unsettled nerves pushing to leave from under his skin right now, instead of being tamed as he knocks on the door of his parents' home. After he knocked, there had still been the small chance that his mom would open the door and immediately see right through him, forcing his nerves to reach their full effect on him, but thankfully, it's Goten who opens the door for him.

Seeing the cheery face of his brother, Gohan quickly pulls in a breath, just so he can let it out and express his relief through that breath. Funny enough, he didn't realise he'd been terrified of being confronted by his mom's face, until Goten's face, which is so very similar to their dad's, showed up in front of his eyes. It's a good thing his brother is so much like their dad, because now that there's a familiar face smiling in welcome at him, he feels like he's doing in letting his dad cleanly get away.

'Hey, Goten.'

'Hi, Gohan,' Goten waves at him and then begins to look behind him, first around his left and then around his right. 'Where's Pan? Did you bring her?'

'Not today, Goten. Maybe next time,' he promises, just so he can move on to the point of asking about the reason for being here, which is, 'Hey, is Mom home?'

'Yeah,' Goten nods, 'she's washing in the bathroom.'

Oh good, he internally relieves.

His mom obviously wouldn't have left Goten all home by himself, but it's still relieving to hear that she's home and she's busy with something that will keep her home for long enough. His mom washing in the bathroom means that she's nowhere near the city, also meaning that the chances of her suddenly heading over to Bulma's, are zero point something. Pushed by that thought, he right away goes to find her in the bathroom.

Once he gets to the bathroom door, finding it open, he gets the thought to just stand there. In silence. In case he forgot on his walk over here, that's his mom over there, and he needs to remind himself that as dedicated and concentrated as she is to washing, there's still that probability that she'll see his face and come to the conclusion that his presence here equals to something being wrong. She's good at that type of thing, so he shouldn't be too free around her. He'll have to be on his guard, for his dad's sake.

'Mom,' he calls after clearing his throat.

His mom, not necessarily rising from her position, lightly turns her shoulders to look towards the door. Even like that, she's not fully able to see his face, she imagines, so he walks to her. Because she's seated on the edge of the bathtub, hunched over the tub to reach the basins inside the tub, he kneels in front of the tub, as close to her as he can manage.

'What are you doing here, Gohan?' she asks him. 'I felt like someone was watching me, and I thought it was your father.'

'That was me,' he confirms, even when it's clearly not necessary to. 'I just came to see you, that's all.'

That's all. _But_ , he's conveniently leaving out the other part about being here to make sure that she doesn't go looking for his dad, and then find out about him going to train with Whis. It's all planned out so that by the time that he leaves his mom, his Dad would've left with Whis as well.

'That's thoughtful of you,' she offers him a small smile, 'but don't you think that you should've brought Pan with you?'

Nervously, also scratching the side of his head, he laughs. Why hadn't he thought to bring Pan with him? The people in this house seem to have an obsession with Pan, so if he'd thought to bring her, he would've blended in perfectly, leaving no room for suspicion.

Accepting that as a good lesson for the future, he verbally promises to not repeat that same mistake again, 'I'll bring her next time.'

'I'd like that,' his mom tells him, going on to ask, 'Did you eat?'

'It's fine, Mom, I'm not hungry.'

He would rather that she sticks to washing the clothes, than leaving the room for the kitchen, but unfortunately, his refusal doesn't register in his mom's head, because she doesn't accept it. Apart from not accepting that he's truly not hungry, she easily gets onto her feet, giving him the reason that not being hungry doesn't necessarily mean that he can't eat. That's the difference, she tells him while she ushers him out of the bathroom, and they walk to the kitchen. He knows better than to argue with her, since he knows that it will get him nowhere, and so once inside the kitchen, he opens his mouth to make small talk about Pan, Videl and school, while she starts preparing cool drinks for all three of them.

He walks with her as she moves around, always politely staying two steps behind or away from her, so as not to get in her way and then risk irritating her. He's avoiding her getting irritated, because if she becomes irritated, she'll start suspecting him. In suspecting him, she'll start questioning him, and if she questions him, then she'll know that he is here trying to cover up something. From that observation, she'll obviously ask him to tell her the truth, and that will be the end for his dad. Wow, he wonders if this is how his dad has to think and act when he is guilty of keeping something from her. Now that he thinks about it, keeping the secret of training with Whis in, his dad must've been keeping on his sharpest side.

Oh, wow, that must have taken a lot of dedication from his easygoing dad. And... Aarggh, what is he doing? Just what does he think he is doing thinking about his dad in front of his mom?

That's the wrong things to do, so he secretly shakes his head to clear his mind of his dad. Thinking about his dad could make him slip and accidentally say something about his dad. If he mentions his dad, his mom is likely to take on the lead of that conversation. Once they get to start talking about his dad, he will most likely start to behave in a nervous and jumpy way, and that will give him away, which will in turn give his dad away, and then that will be the end of his dad's training as he has it planned.

Aaah! He's thinking too much about the thing that his thoughts are supposed to be far from, when what he should be doing, is making sure that he keeps close to his mom enough to watch her, ensuring that she doesn't make a fast escape from his sight, but not too close that it would raise her suspicions on why he seems to be tailing her.

He has to be concentrated on indulging her with just the right answers, right up to the point where she leads them to sit at the table. His hand is a little bit unstable as he reaches for the hard cakes, but he coaches himself to keep himself composed to the end. The better encouragement to keep his composure, is Goten sliding into the seat opposite his, and just like that, it's as if he had never been worried about getting caught in his cover up.

He is rather taken back to a time when it had just been the three of them in this house, sitting at an older version of this table, having some form of a meal while they engaged in small family talk. Not so long ago when their dad was still dead, and he wasn't married to Videl, before Pan came along, him and his mom would listen to Goten chatting away at all the things that he did during the day, laughing at his adorable innocence in handling certain topics... Those had been good times. They had been a happy family, content with what they had and always loved each other, and-

The sudden sound of the telephone stops his thinking before he can join them to his current situation, and Goten jumping from the table to answer the call, does more to help him give up his thoughts, as phone etiquette demands that both him and his mom remain quiet during the time Goten needs to speak on the phone.

'Mom, it's Bulma,' Goten calls without lowering the mouthpiece from his mouth. 'It's for you.'

'Bulma?' she whispers to herself, but he sees her face take on the expression of slightly bothered.

'Mom?'

Looking at him in answer to his call, she softly shakes her head, silently telling him to either let it go, or that there is nothing to worry about, and then gets up to take the phone from Goten's hand, onto her ear.

Hmm. That's worrisome.

He's worried that she's bothered, although strangely, it has nothing to do with the fact that his father is over at Bulma's as they speak. His concern is actually that there's something going on between his mom and Bulma, that's about to catch up with his mom at the wrong time. Considering how he learned that his dad convinced his mom about something that he has not been doing (and is getting away with it), it wouldn't surprise him that his mom is more or less doing that same thing here.

'Bulma?' his mom tentatively speaks into the phone.

The way that she says that single name... It's like she's waiting to hear the worst news, and he can't help it concentrate his face in wonder at what Bulma might be saying to his mom.

'There?' his asks and then she listens for the response.

Now he's really curious. That could be an invitation for a meet up between his mom and Bulma. They're probably supposed to meet up at Bulma's… Or, Bulma asked where they _should_ meet, and thus, his mom is suggesting that they do it at Capsule Corp.

'Okay,' his mom apparently accepts what she's told. 'Thank you for letting me know, Bulma.'

'What's wrong, Mom?' he asks, feeling the need to know what it is immediately after she hangs up.

'It's your father…' she slowly starts, blinking back into focus.

His dad? What can that be about? Especially coming from Bulma to his mom. It's a known fact that Bulma and his mom aren't exactly friends. And another thing, Bulma and the others have this firm perception of his mom, that they almost _always_ side with his dad instead of siding with her, so he's not worried that Bulma reported his dad. Bulma would never do that. He has to get the correct information from his mom, so he goes over to her.

'What happened to Dad?'

She doesn't answer him right away, as he expected that she would do. She firstly only pulls in a long breath, looks at him, and then at Goten, and then at him again, before opening her mouth with no sound escaping from it.

'Mom?' he urges, stepping closer to her, in order to get a reply from her.

This silence thing from her, he's beginning to not like. It's beginning to form into the starter to bad news about his and Goten's dad. He means, why else would she have inhaled like that, and then looked at the two of them, who are sons of the man that she is beginning to talk about, if the next words to leave her mouth, won't be bad to hear?

'You're father's going off training with Whis,' she replies.

Phew... It's only that, it's nothing bad. So then he can relax... He begins to relax his body, but then he finishes processing how she said that, like she can't quite believe what's coming from her own mouth.

He's surprised at how easily she can say that without bursting apart as she does, he's very surprised. To take a better look at his mom, he uses his forefinger to push up his glasses. She's still the same woman, he confirms through adjusted lenses. From what he can tell, she's apparently still in the process of digesting the news, and knowing the analytical part of his mom that comes out when necessary, he can say that right about now, she's doing complicated maths equations, trying to figure out where and what went wrong, that got them (her and his dad) to this point… And, this is his part to buy his dad some time to get away.

'How do you know that?' he asks her, feigning cluelessness.

'Bulma told me,' she says, blinking only once and then turns to him directly to order, 'Take me to Bulma's. I'm going to see your father! Your father won't get away with this. He promised…' she begins to adopt a break in her voice. 'He said... Pan... He...'

'What did Dad promise?' he questions only to buy the time for his dad to leave already.

Of the three possible things that could be the cause of his mom sharply turning away from him without giving him a single look, or an answer, he chooses to believe that she simply doesn't have time for anything that isn't her husband at the moment. He is choosing to believe that his mom is thoroughly furious, that nothing else matters to her, as much as getting herself in the same place as her husband is.

'Mom!' he desperately calls after her, feeling a little too stunned by her angry exit to move from the spot. 'Wait, please. Calm down. Where are you going?'

'She's going to Bulma's,' Goten says. 'You can't stop her.'

'She can't go!' he cries, quickly facing his brother. 'She'll stop Dad from going to train.'

'She's going,' Goten says again, this time shrugging like it's nothing close to a problem what was just revealed to him.

Wha-?

He begins to look towards the door, hoping to see his mom coming back, but something about Goten's unbothered expression, him just standing there, makes him return his focus to his brother. If anything of support, he had expected that Goten would easily take their dad's side as well, that he would help in keeping their mom home until their dad got the time to leave with Whis, but he's getting no such thing. In its place, Goten's rather looking sure of what's going to happen.

Can he please stop looking like that?

For a tiny person, a child at that as well, he seems to know exactly how this is going to play out with their mom, and he's not in the least bothered by it. He can't entirely blame the little guy, though. Goten's too much of a child to realise that their mom is _very_ capable of getting their dad to stay, so he probably cannot understand the urgency in making sure that their mom doesn't get to their dad in time.

'Goten, do you want her to stop Dad from going to train?' he asks, partly getting annoyed with his brother.

'No,' Goten shakes his head, 'I want Dad to go and train.'

'Me too,' he tells his brother, 'that's why I have to stop her.'

'You won't,' Goten carelessly responds to him, which would've been much more annoying, if Gohan wasn't already rushing off after their mom.

He catches up with her after running for a few minutes, but when he tries to get her to slow down her pace and calm herself, she hotly replies that if he won't take her to Bulma's, she'll walk there by herself, and he better take care of Goten until she comes back. His compassion for her kicks in right then, effectively removing him from protecting his dad's current dream, to rejecting the unthinkable thought of letting his mom walk all the way to the city, when he is fully capable of taking her there. He sees no choice but to take her, in other words.

If it counts for something with the gods, though, he wants it known that he's not choosing to sacrifice his dad's dream, he's making the choice to lessen his mother's load. He can't, in his right mind, allow his mom to make a long trek to the city, atop being furious with his dad.

'I'll take you, Mom,' he resigns, partly sorry that his father will not be getting what he wants.

He holds out his arms, attempting to carry her the normal way, but she refuses that way, telling him that she doesn't want him reminding her of 'his father' by carrying her that way. He's then forced to hold her rather awkwardly from behind, and still then, she struggles against him as if he is taking her by force. To anyone looking at them, not knowing that she's just expressing her fury, it would look like she can fly on her own, but he is trying to keep her back, that's why she's struggling for him to let her go. When really, he's flying her there, while she's raging out in his hold.

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 **26Chapters**

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He should've tried harder to keep his mom at home, because now, she's making his dad run around, hiding behind Bulma. That is until his mom explains that it was Bulma who told her the whole story, and his dad probably decides that Bulma can do nothing to protect him, if she's the one who ratted him out. To get a better hiding place, he runs from behind Bulma to behind Goten, as if Goten has the ability to save him from his own wife. Well, maybe Goten does have that power... He'll have to see what Goten can do to help their dad out.

And...

Nope, Goten has no power, Gohan concludes while he observes his parents behave like children in front of their audience. Their mom is now going around Goten, to pull their dad from behind Goten, taking him by the fabric of his orange uniform with no difficulty and holding him close to her. It looks like his dad is going to lose this one, that even Goten is talking to their mom about allowing their dad to go for his training. She obviously doesn't allow the defence, refusing to be swayed by Goten, and that is when he decides to give it a hand at fighting for their dad. He tries to use part of her weakness for his dad, his dad's strength, as a reason to allow him to leave, however, she maintains her refusal.

He starts to think along the defensive lines of having done everything to help his dad win this one, except that's when his mom begins to explain that she wants his dad to work hard at home, how she wants him to be a good grandpa to Pan, and inexplicably hard, that hits him right in the heart.

Oh, wow... He places a hand over his chest, attempting to touch the impact of his mom's words with his own hand.

Wow... He really had no idea...

All this time, he's been thinking that once his mom found out about his dad's plan to leave, she'd be sad for herself, and that she would stop his dad for her and Goten's sakes, but she's actually not thinking of herself at all. It had been so easy for him to take his dad's side and paint his mom as the comical villain, to the point where he'd actually had a mental image of his mom, a caricature, more accurately, to help him take his dad's side on this, but now...

As he physically steps back, personally removing himself from this situation that really has nothing to do with him, and then takes a look at what's happening, he notices that even Goten seems unbothered by what's going on between their parents. But on the other hand, between him and Goten, he's the adult, able to see his parents in a light that his brother can't yet. Also, he has his own marriage, unlike Goten, and thus, he can understand that his parents must be more than what they are displaying here.

He considers that his parents have been together for more than twenty years already. Even if (and this is a big if) his parents have had a rocky twenty years within their marriage, they should still be applauded for sticking it out with each other, because if they are strong enough to endure hardships from the other and still remain together, that's powerful. Clearly, as his parents are who they are, both of them could have left the other at any time, but they chose not to.

If his mom, as he knows her, was soft and able to be manipulated into living with continual disrespect and neglect, would she fight his dad so hard, to make him stay with her right now? He doesn't think so. He believes that she would instead be encouraging him to leave, so that she could have her desired rest until whatever time he chose to return. And if his dad, as he knows him, really only wanted to do was satisfy himself and indulge in his wants, would he really be here, play arguing with her, putting on a comical show in front of them, when he simply could've left for King Kai's some time ago, when he found out about Vegeta's training? He doesn't believes so. He knows that his dad would've gone right ahead to King Kai's, to take the matter into his own hands.

What he is realising looking at his parents now, being a pair of mature eyes, unbiased and scholarly –like he's studying an experiment- is that his parents, to each other, have obviously done their respective parts to make their relationship work. They obviously have deep devotion to each other, that they don't show the outside world. Remembering how his mom makes his dad do so many things mostly against his will at first, while at home, it strangely never makes his dad want to leave home, when he is clearly capable of leaving at will. If he's being perfectly honest, he'll conclude that his mom seems to only be capable of making his dad _stay_ , but she can never get him to leave.

Huh... To think that so many of the people close to his family seems to have an opinion about his mom, when he, the son of his parents can't think of one single incident in which his mom made his dad actually leave to get away from the unbearable life that he is subjected to at home. That can only mean that his dad has no problem with being at home, and much less with his mom's behaviour. His dad looks to be enjoying their argument right now anyway, even though he looks to be under her command in that arm lock...

Anyway, in the end, he is just the audience, interpreting what he wants to interpret (naturally drawn to taking his dad's side, of course). In the end, he has no authority over his parents, not over which decisions they make and what conclusions they come to. Truly, he can only take sides, have his opinion, but when it comes to the Chi-Chi and Goku, who are his parents, he will only ever be an observer, and nothing more. His parents are who they are, and the outside world, observation and external bias doesn't change who they are to each other.

That is simply a fact.

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 **This Is It,** The End.


End file.
